No Longer Alone
by LuxUmbra2012
Summary: Well, me and Matt are gonna break up the next chapter into two parts. Here's part one of Chapter 6. by the way, a shoutout to AlphaScorpio for giving me the inspiration for the structure of the story. By the way, considering how it might advance, possible rating jump.
1. Chapter 1

**I am such a terrible person… I LIED! IT WILL REMAIN THE SAME! AND IT'S BACK FROM THE DEAD, A**HOLES! Now… after upsetting a good amount of readers… I do have a reason… but I will explain later… for now… here it is… the return of my first work, 'No Longer Alone': Now a collaboration between myself and MadManMatt64, a huge supporter of this fic and a good person for the assistance. Here plot-holes will be fixed, all characters will be focused on, and even more detail will be present. To readers of it, I truly am sorry… But here, we will prove that even the best performance can be done better than before.**

**From MadManMAtt64: Hey fans of VG Cats! It's me MadManMatt64, back from the writer's block blues. I have to say, working with Lux on this story has been an honor as well as a pleasure. As a huge fan of the original story, knowing everything inside and out, I can tell you all without a doubt from a fan's perspective that this is easily ten times as good from the original. You know what they say, third time's the charm. As for readers of Feral, I promise that it will be done by the end of the year, and after that I won't be doing anything VG Cats related besides this for a while. I have other projects that I've been ignoring. Yes I know that this is a shameless plug, but what better place to put this? Anyway, Lux and I don't own VG Cats. If we did, we can guarantee you that this would be cannon.**

**No Longer Alone**

**Redone for the 3****rd**** time**

**A collab done by LuxUmbra2012 and MadManMatt64**

**Scars of the Past**

Fate… is cruel. I despise fate because it led me down this path of pain and sorrow, agony and misery… that's all it has done for me… no one understands the mental pain I go through… no one cares about the injuries I sustain… no one bothers to help me when I lie in the street, injured badly and bleeding profusely… and no one will ever care… because of that wretched thing known as fate. Oh, how I despise it for setting my future in solid stone, just like God's Ten Commandments… Yeah I'm a Christian… but frankly, I don't give a shit. If the omnipotent existed, then can't he change the way things are? Yes… he just chooses not to, because mankind and animal-kind fucked up years ago and now we have to suffer the infernal torture known as living, breathing, and dying… I hate it. Especially with all of those fancy pants asshole celebrities saying that they were born to do what they do… bullshit. Michael Jackson was born to become a legend in music, that's no lie, but not them… Not these stupid assholes… Frankly I don't give a damn about these new risers like Lady Gaga, Rebecca Black, and my most hated one. You can guess who… But I'm getting ahead of myself. As I was saying… because of the stupidity of others, the rest of man and animal-kind has to pay the ultimate price for what they were responsible for… how unfair… that people are given set destinies by conception… Some die inside, never to know what life will be… Some die young, never to know what adulthood is like… Some are born with fatal or lifelong diseases… Some people are born with mental problems, like me and my ADHD, schizophrenia and on top of that paranoia … Sad, isn't it? Nah… cause no one gives a shit about others… It's like what Willem Dafoe said in Spider-Man: The Movie… Here's what he said, but with my own twist: "_There are 6.5 billion life forms on this planet and each and every one of those people exist for the sole purpose… of lifting those considered exceptional onto their shoulders…"_ I guess I'm one of the few who don't even get to lift in the slightest… I sure as hell know I won't be exceptional… How can a mistake like me be someone who is worth so much? Probably by doing a lot of ass-kissing or other crap. In any case… yeah, I'm a mistake… literally… my whole life has been a mistake. I might as well start saying why… not like you care anyways… No one does, and why? Because of our goddamn pre-set fates! Oh well… here ya go…

My name is Dante. Dante Jeice Riley… But I prefer the term 'DJ' over that goddamn curse of a name… I hate my name… because it reminds me of my bastard mother… I hate my last name… because it reminds me of my bastard father… I hate them both… I despise them… I wish they would just drop dead…Gramps says that saying that is mean… Hah… they would be the choice words he would say if he stepped in my shoes. Why do I hate them? I'll tell you. Play some tragic music if you want… not like you'll care. I'm 17… 17½ years old… My eye color is brown. My birthday is… Ahh, who gives a flying fuck? Certainly not you… but then again, you are reading this… I'm just your basic miserable 5'7 feet tall, skinny guy (sucks to be short); my ethnic root would be something called a certain "n" word… Not like I care, that word means ignorant so therefore the morons who call me that just to insult me are ignorant. Still, it doesn't make it right to say that word in particular. I'm okay looking: tan complexion, manageable hair, brown eyes, slight mustache coming in, good build (nothing crazy like those damn jocks), and unfortunately, three very noticeable scars on me: One on the back of my head (glass bottle breaking on the back of my head. Thanks **dad**), one on my right cheek (butcher knife cutting my cheek during preparations for dinner. Thanks **mom**), and one stretching from my left shoulder down to my wrist (a goddamn riding crop. I didn't even know those things still existed). All of this and so much more were done to me by mommy dearest and good ol' pa. Do you understand why I hate them? That's not even the worst part… They did this to me for the first early years of my pathetic life, and when the injuries were noticeable, I had to lie to everyone who would ask where I got them from or they would kill me… and not the playful kind, like_ "Little bro, Imma kill you for deleting my save files on Smash Bros!" _then noogie the kid on his noggin, I mean the literal kind, like they will put me 60 feet under the damn apartment complex. My early years were hell… and it was their fault. I can never forgive them for putting me into this infinite cycle of life and death… especially since I was an accident to them. Yup, my birth was accidental. That's what my dad gets for using a broken condom… Fucking dumbass can't think for shit, fucker only thinks with his dick… Daddy was 16, mommy was 15… 7 years of hell go by after I entered this damn wheel of existence… and on my 7th birthday… I couldn't take it anymore. Everything that happened under the roof of that squalid apartment, I couldn't take it anymore… As my parents argued about beer money, crack money, whatever the hell kind of money it was… I remembered the number to call the police so they could take bad people away. Heh, thanks South Park… The cops came, but my parents found out first and began beating me… My cries were heard throughout the entire apartment complex. The cops, the landlord, and other kind people busted in and pulled them off of me, but not before leaving the scar on my arm. When they were taken away, they said the words that would devastate my very soul… "_YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BASTARD! YOU GODDAMN ACCIDENT! WASTE OF FLESH, I WISH I NEVER GAVE BIRTH TO YOU, DANTE!" _

Words cannot describe the infinite sadness I felt at that moment, now and forever burned into my memory…

I lived with my grandfather and grandmother afterwards… where only a year later, my grandmother fell ill and died shortly in the hospital bed. Docs said her breast cancer was benign and wouldn't spread… three days later; she's dead because the goddamn doctor was wrong! I can never trust ANYONE! BECAUSE ALL THE THINGS THAT THESE STUPID SELF-RIGHTEOUS BASTARDS THINK ABOUT IS WHEN THE FUCK THEY'RE GONNA GET THEIR NEXT 6-FIGURE INCOME CHECK FOR LETTING INNOCENT PEOPLE SUFFER AND DIE! I can only trust people who have gone through the same tragedies in life… loss, pain, regret, guilt, shame, etc. because I know that they will take things seriously than those other assholes. That's something we tragic ones share… that from pain, others who know pain will try to help the suffering. My only wish is that someone would alleviate my suffering but, alas, it is mine and mine alone. The heavy burden of guilt and pain… not to mention the constant pressure of keeping above the others in school… but with my distorted appearance and blood oozing down my arm whenever a stitch came loose, it was difficult… well, not the keeping up thing cause I was diagnosed early on and took meds for them every day... but the fact that no one would dare approach me because of my bloody arm… I was called a lot of insults and hurtful names, but the one that pissed me off the most was 'Bleedin' all over everyone'. (Girls, you might understand that one, and if you do, I am sorry for mentioning that, but people are fucking heartless. Know that.) Every fucking time someone said that, my thoughts turned downright carnage-filled and evil as I thought of sickening and gruesome ways to kill those worthless fools. It keeps me sane… no, I'm not crazy… I just need to relieve myself of my anger and this is currently the best way I can handle it… I'm an outcast because of my hatred of even the living. But living through your sorrows proves you are willing to fight through your hardships, rather than die and free yourself from this pain… (FFX reference, anyone?), so I can't give up on life. But living is a curse… every day, pain greets me with a punch to the face… sadness shakes my hand with insults… and everything else happens by everything. But I still don't end it all… because I have a dream… a goal. My goal… is to one day break fate's wheel. I refuse to go the path of my worthless parents and refuse to accept this destiny. No matter what happens, before I die, I will change my fate. I will not be doomed like the others. Those who accepted their doomed existence and simply waste away, I am not like them, nor will I ever be! I digress. I'm getting too far ahead of myself again… It's been hard for me growing up with Grandpa Max and dealing with everyone else's crap, especially that bitch (literally) Vanessa. Who doesn't hate that monster is a question that everyone can agree on the answer.

DJ Riley… that's my name… I am not Dante. My name is DJ. Respect that. I made myself an outcast to avoid suffering more pain and humiliation... did I make the right choice? Because, I think there's another person who seems to have it much worse than I do… am I being too selfish? Probably so, but I've lived all these years focusing on myself and my survival, collecting money through odd jobs and such. If I am selfish… would I fix whatever's wrong? And if I did fix those wrongs, then would someone… talk to me?

**Regretful Outcast**

For me, life fucking sucks. Oh sure, I have parents that love me, a little brother that adores me, and an entire PSN community that fears me whenever I enter their games, save two gamers who are practically as good as I am, but outside of that little bubble, I have no friends, no social life, and an entire school shunning me because I got some stupid jock arrested. Okay, obviously I went ahead of myself here, so I'll back up a little. My name is Aeris Cole, and outside of my house everyone knows me as a goddamn slut. Heh, ironic that they would call me a slut even if I didn't do **anything**with the guy. Sorry, I went ahead of myself again, let me just start at the beginning.

You see, I'm a pink cat. I'm 5'8, 17 ¾ years old, have ocean blue eyes, and I always let my waist length hair remain free and unaltered. You would probably think that this would be why I have no friends, because I'm some sort of a freak of nature. Well you would actually be half right in thinking that my color of fur is the reason that I'm alone in this world, because I was singled out when they first saw me, and when I say 'they', I mean the army of sluts that I used to call my friends. They let me enter their ranks because I _was_ pink, which apparently made me beautiful. I actually sort of wish that they made fun of me because of my fur, that way I would actually have real friends. Anyway, we always paraded around the high school, strutting our stuff, everyone getting out of our way just because we wanted them to. I'll admit it, though I'm not entirely proud of it and I never will be, I enjoyed having everybody worship us as the untouchable goddesses that we were made out to be. I liked walking down the halls hearing the boys around me whispering, _"Hey…There goes Aeris Cole.", "Wow, she's gorgeous.", _and_ "I wish that I could date her." _And other flirtatious comments that would send me into a mental red-hot blush (when none were so perverted…).

That enjoyment only lasted about a week into freshman year though. See, that was around the time when my 'friends' started to show their true colors. There was this kid, another freshman, a human named Will Somins. He was the quiet type, always had his nose in a book of some sort. Why am I bringing this guy up? Well, one day my 'friends' and I were walking down the hallways, and who should he happen to walk into Jody, the leader of the group who was a rather tall peacock, but Will wasn't paying any attention to anything but the book he was reading at the time. When he knocked into her, she immediately went onto the offensive. She didn't even give the guy a chance to explain himself; she just knocked the book out of his hand and pushed him to the floor. On the floor he said something along the lines of, _"Jeez, I'm sorry! What the hell was that for?"_

Jody smiled the way only a peacock could, _"Well I only do it because you thought that you could attack me, you little monkey."_

Will looked offended and hurt_, "What! I just knocked into you by accident! I said I was sorry!"_

Jody stuck her beak in the air; _"I'm afraid that sorry just won't cut it_..." she turned to us_, "Let's get this disrespectful little turd, girls!" _

Every single one of my 'friends' put on wicked smiles and surrounded Will. I was the only one that stood back, confused as to why they would treat this kid so badly, even if he did do something stupid. Through a gap in the circle of people I could see that Will had a look of sheer terror and confusion on his face. As Jody's fist made contact with his face, I lost all respect for every single one of my 'friends'. I don't even think they noticed that I wasn't even part of the circle; they were just having too much fun beating this poor kid into submission. After a few minutes, they stood back and admired the mangled, bloodied body of an innocent boy that they had created. I wanted to do something, I wanted to call out to a teacher, an adult, someone, but I kept my mouth shut. I valued my position too much to be a whistle blower. After that, the rest of the day just went on normally, and that was what scared me the most. They just treated the beating of another person like you would treat talking about the weather.

The next day, we saw Will again, bruised and with a broken nose, but he was still standing. Of course, Jody and her posse decided to make Will's life a living hell again, for no reason other than she was bored I might add. Everything went the same as it did yesterday, Will getting beaten, me standing back neither hurting or helping him, then everything going back to normal after another broken bone. This went on for a whole two months, and over that time, I saw a change in Will. I had a few classes with him, and in nearly every single one, he was always the one whose hand shot up first. After a few weeks though, he started to become more recluse. His hand started coming up less and less, until it just stopped coming up altogether. The last time I saw him he had a forlorn look in his eyes, something that screamed 'Someone please help me!', but I guess I was the only one that saw it. That was the last time I saw him, or anyone saw him either. The next time I heard of him he was on the news, and you can probably already guess why he was on the news. His parents found him hanging in their garage earlier that morning.

Of course when you hear news that someone from your school committed suicide, naturally it's going to spread like wildfire. Normally, everyone would be sad that one of their own is no longer with them, but Jody, that motherfucking bitch Jody, had the stones to tell us, _"Well I'm glad that he killed himself. Hah! Saves me the trouble of cleaning my feathers of his blood."_

And do you know what my 'friends' did? Did they look at her with disgust and think that she was an evil bitch because she said something so horrible? No, they _laughed_ _and agreed with every single goddamn word that she said_. I walked away from this with an emotional scar. I could have _done _something, anything to make it so that Will didn't do what he did, but no, I had a _reputation _to look after. Not only that, but that was the day I saw no redeemable qualities in my 'friends'. Nothing that serious happened again. I guess they made Will a very decent example. Of course, there were other kids that they beat up too, but it was a one-time thing most of the time. Why didn't I do anything to help them? _Reputation_. Oh, I felt sorry for them, but I didn't help them, all because I liked how people worshiped me.

Oh, but that isn't the half of it. No, something even worse happened a year later, the something that made me the hard ass social pariah I am today. It all had to do with this jock in senior year, a lion named Eric Jacobs. That name still gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Eric was the most popular kid in the school, the person every guy wanted to be and every girl wanted to be with. He was the star of the football team, and he was also the biggest sex magnet in the whole school. Every month, he would choose one of the girls from the 'popular' crowd to be his girlfriend, and as soon as he had his way with them, he would dump them and break their stone cold hearts. Then, almost immediately, they would join the group of his other past girlfriends and follow him around in an almost stalker-ish fashion. Nearly every girl has had their turn with him, and soon enough it was mine.

It was nearing the homecoming game and Eric had broken up with Jody a few days before. Yeah, secretly I took pleasure in that. Anyway, it three days until homecoming and Eric needed a new girlfriend to be his date to the dance and someone to have congratulatory sex with after the game that he was surly going to win. It just so happened that he chose me. It was at the end of the school day and I was waiting outside the school for my dad to come and pick me up. After about a minute I heard someone shouting my name. I looked around and saw Eric coming up to me, smiling in a charming sort of way. When he walked up to me he said, _"Yo Aeris. I'm pretty sure that you know me so I'm gonna cut to the chase, will you be my girlfriend?"_

Even before this moment I hated this guy. I hated that arrogant personality, what he did to every girl he met, and the fact that he was a bully on top of that made me automatically dislike him. I looked to the street, looking for my dad, and said dryly, _"Thank you, but no thank you Eric. I don't really like you very much."_

He scoffed, _"Are you kidding me?"_

I turned back to him, _"No, I'm not. You know what? To tell you the truth; I hate you and everything you stand for. How you ever became popular is a wonder of the modern world if you ask me. So if you could please leave me alone, I would like it."_

He gave me a vindictive look just as my dad pulled up to me, _"No one has ever said no to Eric Jacobs."_

At that point, as I was walking over to my dad's car, I spoke to him harshly, _"I can't believe I'm using such a clichéd line, but I think I just did."_

He looked at me, confused, _"Do you mean using a clichéd line or saying no to me?"_

I opened the car door, _"Both." _And slammed the door.

The next day all the talk around the school was about me turning down Eric. Apparently Eric wasn't lying when he said that nobody said no to him before, and I was the first person to say no to him ever. Honestly, I really didn't care about what anybody said about me and him, just as long as it didn't turn violent. Although I saw him once or twice in the halls, and each time, he gave me a weird look whenever he saw me. I ignored it, but then something happened, something that sealed my fate as a social outcast. I had missed school earlier that week because I had a cold (boy, was that hell…) and the day I came back, we had to run a mile in gym class, so, unfortunately for me, I had to make it up after school. That was relatively uneventful, but after that was over everything went straight to hell in a hand-basket. I'm a slow dresser, so I was the last person in the locker room. As I started to change out of my gym uniform, I heard the door to the locker room open. I ignored it, figuring that the other girls had finished changing into their school wear and left the locker room. It was only until after I slipped on my underwear that a pair of hands, lion hands, curled around my stomach and held me tightly. I was then pressed into the front of my locker, the cold metal only making the following words chill my spine even more… I heard a voice in my ear, _"Hey there, beautiful…"_

My eyes widened. It was Eric. My voice was laced with horror as I said, _"W-What the hell are you doing here?"_

"_Isn't it obvious?",_ he replied with a snide tone, _"No one's ever said no to me before you and since you were the first one to do so, I think the perfect revenge would be to do something along the lines of humiliating you like you did to me. Now I'm giving you one last chance… Be my girlfriend or you can say goodbye to your purity right here, not like you'll have it for long anyways. So… what'll it be?"_

"_Like hell, you motherfucker!"_ I shouted, anger replacing fear. I rose my foot and slammed it on his. Most of the shock was absorbed by his sneaker, but it was enough to get him to let go. When he did, I turned around and kneed him in his crotch. With a satisfying screech, he grabbed his crotch and fell to the floor, breathing shaky breaths. I quickly dressed myself and ran out of the locker room quickly then grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. Long story short, the cops came and took Eric away on charges of attempted rape. You may think that this ended well for me, everybody sympathizing with me but, no, since homecoming game took place only a day later and since Eric, the star player/rapist, was arrested, our school football team lost and needed a scapegoat. And who better to make a scapegoat than the person who got him arrested in the first place? The rest of the year was a living hell on earth for me, my old 'friends' turning on me, all the people that my 'friends' hurt during my time in their ranks asking me how it felt to be one of them, all the jocks talking trash at me, and worse, people asking me how it felt to allow Will to kill himself. To reiterate, my life fucking sucks. Although, I have a new chance. My dad recently got a job transfer to Toronto, and I can only say thank God for that. I will not miss living in Ottawa by any means. Goodbye Jody and all you assholes, I'm leaving here forever… and thank God. I have a chance to start over, and this time… I will do this right.

**Alone…**

Have you ever heard of the phrase, there's always someone worse off than you? Well, in this case, in my case, there is no one who can possibly be any more miserable than I am. Don't even try searching because you found the end of the yellow miserable brick road. I'm not kidding. Do you possibly think you can find someone who has lost so much more than I have? That's impossible… Why? Because I lost everything… and at such a young age no less. You probably know who I am, huh? Toronto's local abomination and all-around freak, Leo Leonardo the 3rd. Yup, that's me. Every day is a living hell for me and it's all because of what happened oh so long ago. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You want to know what happened 13 years ago? Of course you do but just like Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events', I come with the same warnings. My life is saddening, horrible, and depressing, but you'll probably read it anyway. Besides, everyone reads good, morbid, and tragic stories to remind themselves how grateful they are compared to the protagonist.

I just turned 17 about a good 3 months earlier before now (May 19th, 20XX). I'm 5'7 tall, skinny build, and… hell… even I don't consider myself attractive in any form or manner. Seeing embarrassing pictures of me scattered around the internet, you already know what I look like.

You know me as a sick monster with the most twisted mind anyone has ever seen. Well, I wasn't always like this, well the twisted mind part. The monster thing is just an elaborate farce concocted by a maniacal… Wait… too far. What you don't know about me is that I had an ordinary life, just like everyone who's probably reading this. A stay at home mom who loved me with all of her heart, mind, body, and soul: This one woman, Karen Leonardo, was my light when I was alone as a kitten. The very reason I was happy when no one else was around was when she was always there with me, tickling me silly or telling me stories about good guys beating bad guys. Hell, even the meals she made were so delicious; I still remember their taste even after 13 years…

My father was a wealthy businessman, who emigrated from Britain to America in the hopes of seeking a more exciting and fulfilling life rather than live back at his home country and in complete extravagance. He always did tell me how boring it was to be like that. I, to this day, wonder how a natural born and raised Englishman was able to woo and marry an American tomboy like my mother, especially with that accent he had. Despite this, he was the dad who always was there for me: sneaking behind his wife to give a small piece of candy to his son whenever he got in trouble, surprising me and simply making me laugh with that accent of his, and other crazy stuff that a British man can tell his young son. He even told me how to say cigarette in England, but boy was mom so pissed.

My uncle. Good Lord, that guy is crazy beyond all compare. He is a human comic artist who made a killing off both Toronto's morning newspapers and the internet by creating a hilarious strip and web comic called the Gamer Animals, which entailed the lives of several commonplace video gaming animals, even affectionately putting me in a strip which showed how good I was playing Doom 2, making a horror gamer expert drop his jaw comically. I know he wasn't truly family, since he was human, but he's been standing by my parents for who knows how long so mom and dad made me call him 'uncle', even though I started calling him that before they told me that. He even handed me my first ever video game console. A PlayStation, the one colored like me. He also handed me my first ever video game: Pac-Cat World 20th Anniversary.

Have you ever heard of Jake Muldoon? You have? Then you probably already know that he has 3,500+ victims on his record. Why am I bringing this up to you? Why is it relevant to a seemingly happy story about a happy and carefree little kitten and his oh-so-wonderful family? Well, what if I told you that this family was to be destroyed by the very psychopath I outlined to you earlier, on Christmas no less? Do you want to hear it? Of course you do, everyone's attracted to the most morbid things.

It was a silent Christmas Eve, and there was one little kitten standing at his frost covered window on 1134 Clear River Ave. at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With baited breath, he awaited that special moment when he would hear those bells, those bells, those bells…. I stood up in my footie pajamas looking outside my frost covered window, thawing some of the permafrost with my breath. I looked outside with such childlike wonder, as the lights flashed everywhere across the neighborhood. I looked at my Pac-Cat clock, counting down the seconds just waiting for Santa to come… I always wanted to see him: That big fat jolly man with his trademark Christmas costume, with the reindeer guiding his sleigh, merrily singing carols and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, waking tons of little kids and pre-teens around the whole Earth who would then scream for their parents or older siblings that Santa had come. Dad even told me a cute little fairytale that if I was a good little kitty, then Santa would let me see him. He would stop once he saw me and ask_, "Have you been a good little boy this year, Leo?"_ Then I would have to respond, _"Yes, Santa! I've been really good this year! And I'll be good every year!" "Ho-Ho-Ho!"_Santa would laugh, his jolly belly jiggling somewhat, his very laughter bringing Christmas cheer with him. Then he would give me the best present that he brought for me, and would let me open it. That was the story Dad told me.

I can still remember the sheer excitement I felt as twelve o'clock displayed on my alarm clock. I sprang out of my bed as soon as those digits appeared on the clock. I ran out of my bed room and down the stairs into the living room silently, so I wouldn't wake mom and dad, and then stealthily turned to the kitchen, where mom left the cookies and milk. Some were eaten, and the milk was gone and there was no fat man to been seen anywhere. And the weird thing was that the front door was wide open. Boy, how upsetting_… "Oh, well…"_ I said, _"I'll be even better next year, then I'll definitely get to see him next year! I'll be extra good, this I swear!"_I turned my attention to the living room where our very tall tree was placed, and there, right underneath the tree, was a literal trove of presents. I was so giddy that I ran without abandon towards them, giggling like someone who said a silly word, like 'titmouse'. I hastily skimmed through each and every one of the presents there. When I finished, I had learned that over half of them were mine, and many of them were huge. I was the happiest little guy in the world! I extended my paws to unwrap my first present just a little, but someone had unwrapped the present that would change everything…

A scream sounded from upstairs, stopping time faster than anyone can say_, "ZA WARUDO!"_ or _"CHAOS CONTROL!"_ _or "TIME STOP!"_or other time stopping quotes. It came from my mother.

_"HEAVENLY FATHER! LEO, WAKE UP! HONEY, PLEASE WAKE UP!"  
><em>

_"Sorry… but he's long gone… Boy, was that easy. So, Karen… It's your turn."  
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_"GET AWAY, PLEASE! JUST TAKE WHAT YOU WANT AND LEAVE!"  
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_"Well… I might let you and your son live… that is… if you do something for me…"  
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_"I WILL NEVER ALLOW ANYONE, ESPECIALLY A SICK MONSTER LIKE YOU, LAY THEIR FILTHY FUCKING HANDS ON ME! YOU MURDERED MY HUSBAND AND I WILL NEVER LET YOU LAY YOUR SICKENING HANDS ON MY SON!"  
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_"Oh… so sure? Hmm…. Too bad… I'll make sure to tell your son you said that and let him know how futile your resistance was…. Goodbye, Karen, but don't worry, your son will follow soon."  
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_"LEO! GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"  
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*SLASH*

*STAB*

*SLICE*

I suddenly had the urge to run up the stairs into my parent's bedroom to see what the hell was going on. Evil laughter and odd squelching sounds filled my ears as I climbed up the steps as fast as I could, panic starting to take over. Since I was so small, it took me a while to open the door, and a few seconds before I did, it seemed that all the laughter, the odd noises, every single sound in the house seemed to be muted. As I opened the door... you cannot yet to begin to imagine the pain and sadness that I felt. When I opened that door, the next image I saw would be engraved in my memory forever, and like the Ten Commandments, this memory was set in stone. Leo the 2nd was spread-eagled on the side of the room closest to the door, right in front of my feet. I could already see blood on the back of his white night shirt, but when I turned him over, I was face to face with my father, now no longer a part of this world. His face was coated in blood, his monocle shattered on the floor nearby him, his eyes rolled up inside his head, and his neck was torn wide open, neatly cut with a large knife. The wound was so severe that the sinews of flesh holding his head to his body nearly snapped when I touched him. I nearly vomited. I had known what death is. One life and that's it: Game Over, No Restarts, and No Continues. Video games and good parenting can teach one a lot. My mother was lying on the bed, blood oozing from her mouth, and many other injuries riddling her once serene form. Her breathing was still present but terribly labored. The scene in its entirety had reduced me from pure happiness to pure worry to pure fear and terror and a hot batch of tears welled within my eyes. My parents... my dad was already dead, and mom was on the brink. I ran up to her screaming_, "MOMMY! MOMMY!"_

She looked at me and despite all the intense pain she was in; she said my name so softly I could barely hear it. I stood right there next to her, hot tears starting to flow down my cheeks. She gave me a ghost of a smile and lifted her paw to my face in an attempt to wipe the tears off. When she finished she grabbed onto my paw and squeezed it tight. She then said in a nearly inaudible voice_, "Leo... I'm so sorry we won't be able to see you grow up... just remember that Mommy and Daddy will always be with you..."_, she started to cough up blood, _"Leo, I want you to call Scott... just run outside and call his name as loud as you can... okay?"_, her breathing became more laborious, _"Leo... I love you..."_.She then stopped breathing altogether and her death grip became limp… The light… the very soul that made Karen Leonardo, my mother, who she was… had faded from those eyes… those pain-filled and happy yellow eyes…

My tears resumed as I shook my parents, desperately trying to wake them up from death... how pathetic of me. I started to shout, _"Please! Mommy, Daddy, please wake up!"_ I even said my first curse, _"DAMMIT MOM! I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO!"_ Of course all I received in return was oppressive silence, save for what sounded like footsteps sneaking out of the room. It was around this point I said the most clichéd line to ever use in a sad moment_, "NOOOOOOOOO!" _

And Pandora's Box… the lock was broken… and it was opened…

I started to shake with grief and the tears I was crying were starting to blind me, but somehow through all the sadness, I felt compelled to run outside and fulfill my mother's last wish. I was running on sheer adrenaline at this point and woe to anyone who tried to stop me. At least that's what I thought at the time. I ran out my parent's room as fast as I could and barreled down the stairs, but right when the wide open front door seemed to be in my reach and I filled my lungs with the air necessary to call Scott, it suddenly shut, and a man stepped out of the shadows of the hallway and waved his finger in a manner similar to a certain blue hedgehog, saying_, "Ah, ah, ah. You know better than to run away from home. Didn't your parents teach you anything?"_

He then grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and held me in front of his face. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life. Period. His face was heavily scarred and he had a lopsided, demented grin. His breath smelled of cheap alcohol and his eyes…. oh my god, those horrible blood-red eyes... I felt something sharp against my cheek as he said_, "Well if your parents aren't around to teach you that running away is a bad thing... then I suppose it's my job now to punish you."_

My tears turned from sadness to fear_, "Please... please don't kill me..." _

He laughed mockingly, a hint of sadism present in that near-demonic voice of his, _"I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going yo use this here knife to cut you up into tiny little kitty bits and feed you to my good little doggies for Christmas feast. What the fuck are you thinking, kid? Of course I'm going to kill you. Christ, kids these days… They get fucking dumber and dumber…"_

He took me into the kitchen and grinned sadistically as he pierced my cheek with his knife, causing me to cry harder. He loosened his composure at this point and shouted_, "For the love of God kid, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" _He then threw me all the way back into the hallway. Realizing where I was immediately, I opened the door as quickly as I could and ran out into the bitter cold night, shouting, _"UNCLE SCOTT! UNCLE SCOTT, PLEASE HELP ME!" _

Being the young, naïve boy that I was, I made the rather unwise decision of standing still while a killer was after me. After a moment of shouting I felt an impact on the back of my head, causing me to fall over. The man then dragged me back into the house, and as he did my cheek began to leave a moderately sized trail of blood on the ground. He dragged me back into the kitchen and placed my on top of the table with his hand on my chest to keep me from escaping and said_, "Okay, that's it. I was trying to be a team player. Trying to be a nice guy. Trying to be a good person."_

I shouted, so much hot rage and hate pouring through my young frame_, "You killed my parents, you sick fuck!"_ I didn't even know that I knew that word. He then raised his knife above my head, _"I SAID TRYING!" _

I then heard another voice, _"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" _

The sounds of punching, grunting, fighting, and what sounded like tiny explosions, filled my ears. But the absolute terror of death had already taken its toll on my young mind as my consciousness faded at a very rapid pace. My eyes could only intake these strange flashes of red and black as my vision became more and more distorted.

_"Uncle Scott..."_ I said to myself before I fainted.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I came to I was in the hospital with Scott sitting next to me in a chair. At first, I thought that it was some horrible nightmare... that is until I asked him where my parents were. He just looked away and didn't answer. This was around the lowest of the low points in my life. I felt empty inside, like someone tore out my soul and left a black hole in its place. I didn't want to believe it... Mom and Dad were... dead? Before I could even think straight, I faced a new problem: reporters chose at that very moment to burst into my room with doctors and police officers among the group, trying to keep them out. They pushed a shocked Scott out of the way and began asking me questions like_, "Young man, how was it to learn that Jake 'Ace' Muldoon, a mass rapist and murderer, had murdered your parents?", "Do you plan to testify against him?", "How did you survive Jake's rampage?"_ I don't know what they were expecting to get out of me; I could barely pronounce my S's for God's sake. I'll tell you what I did do though. I cried. I cried harder than I ever had before in my life, and I don't think I'll cry that hard ever again. Unfortunately, the tabloids recorded all of my tears and would use that against me later. A serial killer? That was one thing. A mass rapist? I could only imagine what he would've done to my mom if she complied...

And do you know what all those reporters kept telling me? They told me that I was 'brave', that I was a 'lucky survivor', that 'everything was going to change for me', and other such bullshit. Although they were half right, my life did change, but for the worse... more on that later though. Every time they opened their mouths I had flashbacks... finding my parents... being picked up by the scruff of my neck... a blood-red knife raised high above me, fresh blood glistening in the moonlight. Somehow, Scott, who was no doubt filled with anger at this point, pushed all of the reporters out of the room, one of them calling him a hard ass on the way out. Upon hearing this, Scott walked outside the room and a girlish scream could be heard in the hallway. He came back in with a very smug look on his face, but that diminished as soon as he saw me and was reminded of the tragedy that happened. He walked over to the bed, leaned close on the bed and hugged me tightly, saying that he would take care of me from now on... He swore he would.

I lived with Scott ever since. After a few weeks, a trial for that bastard was held and I testified to the best of my ability, not like it did any good though. In the end, against all odds, he got life without parole. That wasn't justice if you ask me. I even said something to that effect when Scott and I left the courtroom that day. I told him something that left a chill run down his spine even now, _"He's going to jail forever? I wanted to see him die..."_and that was no joke. I wanted him to fry in the electric chair, get gassed to death, lethal injection, hung, drawn and quartered, burned at the stake, beheaded, hell, even thrown in a sack with a dog, a monkey, and a snake which would then be thrown into a river but, no, he gets thrown into prison for his whole life. That's not justice. He deserved to die and I still think he does. No, I know he does.

When I started to go to school, I wasn't exactly what you would call a social butterfly. I wanted to be left alone and I couldn't even talk to anybody. Ever since Mom and Dad got murdered, I lost all my confidence with people. I became the loner, the guy that no one would ever want to talk to because he was so weird, because he wanted to be alone. After the third grade I started to regain my confidence, but before I could even get a single friend... she showed up. A wolf girl, with white fur and white eyes had singled me out from all the other students in the school. Her name is Vanessa... Vanessa FUCKING Richardson. You probably know her, everybody knows someone like her. You know, that spoiled rotten girl whose mommy gives her everything and daddy lets her do everything? Well imagine that person, make her a sadist, and make her ultra-popular. That's what Vanessa is like. The spawn of Lucifer. Why did she single me out? Well, in school, despite all my social awkwardness and my love of video games, I was a genius. It was how I could show Mom and Dad that I'm still going strong. Vanessa became jealous of me, usually because she couldn't beat me academically. Hell, I once beat her in chess in less than 10 moves. Needless to say, if she couldn't beat me with her brains, she figured that she could start beating me everywhere else. And she did... I was the social outcast and Vanessa took advantage of every aspect of this by telling all the other kids mean things about me and throwing insults my way whenever we saw each other. Although that was child's play compared to middle school, where Pandora's Box started opening wider. She got herself a boyfriend, a jock tiger with an inhuman streak the size of the fucking sun named Jason York... I curse that fucking name. Not only that, but puberty wasn't helping my situation out much, what with making me more awkward around girls and the zits. Oh the shame…

Vanessa used my new found social awkwardness to devastating effect, making me look like a twisted freak. Jason once ambushed me and shoved me into a locker in the girl's locker room, and not one of those huge lockers either, I'm talking the kind of lockers that you can barely fit your backpack in. I couldn't escape... then PE came around... and next thing you know, I went from the loner to the peeping tom.

This among other cruel pranks and twisted jokes had effectively made me the social pariah of the school. Then she turned violent. She would send out her clique and her boyfriend with his goons after me when I walked home from school. It started to become so commonplace that I had to find another route home after a while, but she soon found out that I was going a different way and would then intercept my new path, and so on and so forth... In fact, she was even able to stop Scott from helping me by pressing a molestation charge on him. He only pushed her out of the way when he saw her and her friends killing me slowly in front of my own house and bitch goes ahead and screams, 'SOMEONE HELP! HE TOUCHED ME DOWN THERE!' Fucking liar… This would continue for the entirety of middle school. During the summer before high school, I made a chart that detailed all the ways I got beat up. I counted 189 broken bones, 243 broken hands, 451 broken fingers, and no I'm not exaggerating here, 784 crotch kicks. I wouldn't be surprised if I wound up infertile. Why am I saying that, it's not like anybody's going to do something like that with me. Seriously, would anyone ever want to be with me, the freak, the outcast, the peeping tom (yes I am still called that)? I can definitely tell you that I see no Leo the 4th in my life because of that. It's all because of that cock-sucking, motherfucking bitch. I hate her so fucking much. Then high school came around, and let me tell you, middle school had nothing on this place. The beatings became 10 times as savage, and to make matters worse, Vanessa became the social queen. Because of this, it was either help me and risk being a loser for the rest of your life, or do nothing and live another day. No one would help, and some people would laugh alongside her as I was broken like a toy in front of everyone. I became truly miserable, even more so when the nightmares came back. My parent's deaths would replay every time I would see blood (which was a lot, thanks to Vanessa) and whenever I would go to sleep. It makes me feel so powerless... that I could do nothing to stop what happened. This started to become a waking reality too. Because of this I started to have suicidal thoughts and became depressed... mostly depressed though. I don't want to shame the memory of my parents by having their only son kill himself. I take medicine for the depression and the nightmares, but it doesn't do anything... nothing makes the pain go away. Especially if you're me.

So now do you see why I said I'm the single most miserable existence on the planet? My life is a complete and total hell. My name is Leo Leonardo the Third, and I am the last of the Leonardo family. I wish I could change the past and fix my life... but I can't...

I hate the world, but that's to be expected, ever since the deaths of the innocent lives of Karen Leonardo and Leo Leonardo the Second.

I am... alone... and nothing will ever change that. Nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanessa

Fate or free will. You believe in one or the other, and I believe in fate. Why is this? Well, there are many factors to this. You cannot "free will" yourself to be born into a wealthy family (like me), you can't "free will" yourself to have a father with a position of power (like me), and you certainly can't "free will" yourself into having a certain charisma that can make or break (in the most literal sense of the word) people (again, like me). Such is fate, and I know what my fate is. My fate is to rule. Anyone who questions that fate will pay dearly for their insolence. You may think that I can only talk the talk, but I don't make idle threats, as most people who know me can tell you. Also, those same people will tell you that I am well on my way to my fate. You don't know who I am? I suppose you wouldn't considering that most people don't live in Toronto. My name is Vanessa Richardson, and you'd better remember that when I become queen.

You may be wondering why a sweet, seventeen year old wolf would talk like this. Well, it all started with a cat, a cat named Leo Leonardo the Third. God I hate him. He's always showing me up in school, even after all that I've put him through. I have to admit, the guy's got resolve that's for sure. You see, way back in the third grade we had this test, can't remember what it was for, but it was a pretty hard test I can tell you that. To make a long story short, I got a 99, he got 100. You may think that this is a stupid reason for torturing someone, but there's more to it than that. After leaving for home that day, I met a man. He wore a black suit that gave him a mysterious look, had unruly and wild brown hair, and even though the sun was shining brightly, I still couldn't see his face, as if though the shadows didn't want me to see it, only the stubby goatee that hung from his chin.

At first, I was apprehensive about him, after all I was told not to talk to strangers, and I still was at the impressionable age of seven. Yet, I was drawn to him somehow, as if I needed to listen to him. We talked for a while and when we finished our discussion he introduced himself as J.E., but he had a pseudonym that other people called him by: Thomason Goodchild. The day I met him was the fated day that changed my life forever.

When I went that direction the next day he was there again, ready to talk to me. Yet today was different. Yesterday was only small talk, such as how was your day, the weather, you know, the basic stuff. Today however, he asked me whether or not I knew about fate. I'm pretty sure that I looked at him weird at that moment. I knew what fate was, but at the time I thought that it was a stupid thing to think about and that it was free will that governed our lives. When I told him this I could see a small smile form as he shook his head. I still remember what he told me, "_Vanessa you silly little girl. You really think that there is such a thing as free will?"_

I nodded my head and said, "_Yes. Don't you?"_

He laughed a very condescending laugh at this and said, "_Let me ask you something, girl. Do you think that it was by free will that you entered this world?"_

I nodded again, "_Yeah. Mommy and Daddy said that they wanted me and I was born."_

J.E., stroked his goatee, "_That may be, but what if your birth was an accident? What if they didn't really want to have you and they never told you to spare your feelings? Does that sound like free will to you Vanessa?"_

At the time, I really didn't know what he meant by the whole "accident" thing, but something about his words rang true to me. Yes, what if, somehow, I was born accidentally? That couldn't have been free will if I was born without my parents' say so. Although I wasn't entirely convinced about this whole, "fate", thing, so I just went back to the small talk that day and went on my way back home and learned the true meaning of fate.

I was unsuspecting of what would happen when I opened the door. I could tell you what I was expecting however; my mother waiting for me at the door. You couldn't have asked for a better mother, she was one of those women that had a smile on her face and place for you in her heart. What I went on though was entirely different than what I thought would happen. When I opened the door and into my house, mom wasn't there. This was uncommon, but not enough so that I would be alarmed. That was when I heard a sob from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of something dropping. I went into the kitchen and saw my father crying and the thing that fell was the phone. He looked surprised to see me, and even more saddened as well. It was then I learned one of the most, if not the most horrible pieces of news in my life: There was a car accident and my mother was involved. My only solace to this was that when she was crushed by the oil rig that ran into her, her death was instantaneous.

The day after that I was back at school, trying to get my mind off my mother by working hard. Yet, nothing could clear my head; every little thing reminded me of my mother in some way. I was still stewing in my emotions while walking back home. On my way, I saw J.E. again, still looking at me from behind the shadows that obscured his face. I walked past him, hoping that he would ignore me, but I was stopped when I heard him say, "_Hey, kid? You alright? You seem kind of blue."_

I sighed. I needed someone to tell this to, even if it was this strange and shifty man, but still, I needed to tell somebody besides dad, and he did speak with me before. So I told him everything that happened yesterday when I got home. When I finished, J.E. seemed empathetic, "_Poor kid. I'm sorry to hear that."_ he shrugged, "_Although, such is fate."_

I raised my eyebrow, "_What do you mean?"_

His lips curled slightly, "_Well, yesterday, you told me you didn't believe in fate, now it has punished you by killing your mother."_

"_That makes no sense!"_ I objected, "_The person who was driving the truck got drunk on his own!"_

He wagged his finger at me. "_Ah, yet you don't consider the possibilities. Maybe a friend of his gave him the drink and he decided to drink and drive. Maybe your mother dropped something, and when she wasn't paying attention, she forgot to stop at a light and hit the truck. Fate determines what happens to someone, and in order to teach you a lesson about fate, your mother was fated to die."_

In some weird, twisted, morbid way, I started to believe him. What he said made sense to me. He then asked, "_Out of curiosity, do you know anything about the person that was driving the truck?"_

I nodded, "_A little. When I asked Daddy why the man was drinking he told me that the driver was down on his luck. He told me that most people who drink are people who lived bad lives."_

He stroked his goatee in thought, "_Yes, what your father said was true. Although he did leave out a tiny detail."_

"_What?"_

"_Well, he didn't mention anything about how a lot of those kinds of people kill."_

"_They do?"_ I asked.

He nodded_, "Indeed. They feel that since they have horrible lives that they should make others' lives as miserable as possible. Especially the failed genius type."_

"_What do you mean? Don't smart people live good lives?"_

He shrugged_, "They do... if their fate says so."_

I processed all of this and repeated it to him, "_So, smart people who have bad lives will kill people?"_

He smiled, "_Such a bright girl."_

Something in my brain clicked at that moment, "_Wait a second, I know a smart guy who seems to have a bad life."_

He gasped while covering his mouth with his hand. It sounded slightly fake, "_You do? How unfortunate..."_

I stood there for a minute. It made no sense. He seemed like an okay enough person. How could he possibly kill someone? This man seemed to have all the answers, so I asked, "_J.E., the guy I know, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would kill someone."_

"_Let me guess, he's quiet, never hurt a fly, but most importantly, he is a very smart kid."_

I nodded, slightly disbelieving, "_Yeah, how did you know?"_

He waved his hand, "_They all seem like that. I've seen a lot of them in my time."_

Suddenly, I became slightly afraid. I knew a potential psychopath who could kill at any moment. I then asked J.E. "_Isn't there a way to make it so they don't kill?"_

He shook his head_, "Unfortunately no. Their fate is set. They will kill, whether they want to or not. And the boy you claim to be harmless… his future, his fate, his destiny, is to kill. He is meant to destroy. I can see it all now, standing over a pile of bodies, a demonic grin on his face, laughing maniacally as he destroys all that we innocents hold dear with his own hands. I've seen it too many times. Do you truly believe that he will remain harmless? His fate is set. There is no way to prevent this."_

I left J.E. that day with a heavy heart and feeling the world on my shoulders. I was feeling confused, sad, but mostly, I felt anger. I felt malice. I felt sheer, absolute, hatred. At who, you may ask? The guy I told you about earlier, Leo Leonardo the Third. He was going to kill someone, maybe someone I knew. I was feeling so much hatred that it felt that he was the one who killed my mom.

When I went to school the next day, my hatred took form. Under the pretense of him getting a better score on the last test, I started to torment a certain gray cat in any way possible. I figured that if I couldn't stop him from killing that I might as well make his already hard life harder. Yet he was the beginning. I started to notice others. Other outcasts that seemed to live hard lives. So I expanded from Leo to the others as well. Some joined my cause, but I never told them the real reason I did what I did; preemptive revenge.

I didn't see J.E. for about a month after I started my little campaign. When he asked me what I had been up to, I told him everything that I had done since I saw him last. When I finished he smiled and said, "_You've been a busy little bee, haven't you? In fact, you've set the path to your fate rather well."_

I looked at him questioningly and that was all he needed to continue, "_I have a bit of a gift. I can see people's fates."_

I gaped at him, "_You can?"_

He nodded, "_Yes, I can. For example, see that jogger over there?"_

I looked behind him and I saw the jogger he was talking about, "_Well, in about forty seconds he's going to run into someone else, who is an attorney, and they'll both fall onto the street and nearly get run over by a car. In the car is a parole officer, who will arrest the jogger for skipping bale."_

When he finished talking, I looked back to the jogger, who was running across the street. A man with a briefcase was walking across also, but he was looking at his watch and didn't see the man coming toward him. They both knock into each other at the middle of the intersection, and fall to the ground. When they hit the ground, a car came along and barely stopped before running them over. Another man stepped out of the car to see if the two people he almost ran over were okay, before the officer recognized the jogger and arrested him. Admittedly, I was slightly skeptic before, but now I was convinced. I begged him to tell me what my fate was, and this is what he told me, "_Vanessa, your fate is to stop all the killing that the people you have been bullying will cause. You will stop it all, by becoming the mayor of this city. Better yet, by becoming its queen."_

Queen Vanessa Richardson. Yes, I liked the sound of that. Succeeding my father? I liked the sound of that as well. Ever since that day, I dedicated myself to weeding out all those who will cause trouble in the future. If I was to rule, I had to make an impression on all those whose fates would lead them to kill. Right now, I'm only able to make them submit, but when I rule, they will be the first to leave my society. They will leave it through a body bag.

So you see? I only paint myself as a heartless bitch, but in reality, I'm doing it for the good of society. I don't want to see anyone's mother killed on my watch or anyone lose someone precious to them. Mom, wherever you are, I hope you're proud of me, because I will create a utopia. A place where no pain, suffering, and prejudice will exist, but I must remove those who threaten this, and Leo is one of them. Then and only then will there be a true paradise, and with J.E. behind me and supporting me, there's no possible limit to what I can do. Of course, who's to say that he'll be useful when I ascend to power?

Leo

I woke up with a gasp. I sat up in my bed, holding my forehead and feeling the sweat that had accumulated there. Taking a heavy breath, I hang my legs over the side of my bed and just sit there a moment, thinking. It was that dream again. That same dream that I've been having for God knows how long. I get a pit in my stomach just thinking about it; the screams, the blood, the absolute feeling of helplessness...

I shake my head of those thoughts and get off my bed, heading for the adjacent bathroom. I look at myself in the mirror, and I look like an absolute mess. Hair and fur sticking out at odd angles, bags under my eyes, and not to mention the glossy sheen of sweat on my forehead all added to my normally disheveled appearance. Deciding to at least make myself look slightly presentable, I take a shower. The hot water eased my tension from that dream, and helped to get my mind off of things.

When I finished I got dressed and left my bedroom and into the hall. Looking to the left, I saw the door that led to the room where my innocence ended (Wow. That sounded unbelievably stupid.). I know what you might be thinking, "_Why haven't they moved out of the house where an overly traumatic event for a little boy occurred?" _Well, my Uncle Scott refuses to move out. He said that it would help me through my trauma. All I can say to that is what he said is totally false.

I stare at that door, a pit in my stomach forming as I do so. The door had been sealed shut in attempt to keep the memories in the memories from leaking out. Not by Scott as you might expect, but by me when I was old enough to use a hammer without breaking a bone. I pulled my attention away from the door and walk down the stairs into the foyer and take a left to the kitchen. Scott was there, sipping a mug of coffee while reading a newspaper that was headlined, **"Pantsman Saves the Day Again!"** with a picture of said hero on the front page.

"_You'd think they'd put more worthwhile things in the papers."_ I thought to myself bitterly as I sat down at my spot at the table where some breakfast sat. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against the guy, he does great things, he really does. In fact, if it wasn't for the guy, that psychotic Dr. Von Kruglor would've destroyed the city ages ago. But he's a news hog, plain and simple. He's definitely been in the papers more times than I can count, detracting from what's really important, like real life matters. But this city has always been so calm, aside from the hero and villain duking it out every now and then.

We eat our breakfast in silence, but this is actually pretty usual for us. After my parents died, we just stopped connecting like we used to do. We just grew distant, me with my struggling in school, and him with looking for work. Thanks to Vanessa's lie, most of the papers that ran his comic dropped it, not wanting to be associated with a 'pedophile'. In fact, the paper he was reading right now was one of the few that still ran it. Scott calls it a 'one man boycott'. I call it stubbornness.

After I put my plate at the counter, Scott finally spoke, saying, "_Did it happen again?"_

I didn't turn around; I just answered irritably, "_You know the answer."_

He laughed a little, despite my terse response_, "I guess you're right. I was just holding out the hope you had a good night's sleep for once."_

I turn around to face him and smiled slightly. He was showing concern for me, and all I did in return was act like an ass. I try and make up for it and say, "_Thanks for actually caring enough to ask me though. Lord knows I don't get enough of that at school."_

His face lost some of its mirth, but he did his best not to look too serious. He knew about my situation at school for some time now, but he can't exactly do much of anything about it. Being a registered sex offender didn't exactly score points with the school board, so I was on my own ever since that happened. All I had was his shoulder to cry on, and even that was barely ever around. He's always out looking for work ever since his comic stopped printing.

The short exchange was the only conversation we had that morning. After Scott finished with his coffee, he went upstairs to get ready for his job hunting. When he left, I grabbed my backpack and took a deep breath before walking outside my house and into the brisk Toronto air. I couldn't place it, but somehow, I actually felt like things might be different today. Probably just the cold air talking.

Toronto's School for Gifted Youths (the school I go to), was all the way in downtown Toronto. It's only a couple of miles away, but I get up so early from my nightmares that being on time isn't usually a problem. Although, even if I do get up this early every day, that didn't stop Vanessa from trying to hunt me down and make me late. Usually I just bore through it, narrowly escaping every now and then. Yet, today was different. When the buildings started getting taller, I started to get ideas. Ideas that could possibly work. I see a drain nearby, perfect for climbing up.

Using a mixture of my innate talents and second hand knowledge from Assassin's Creed, I grabbed the pipe, climbed up the pipe and onto the top of the building. I smirk to myself, knowing that Vanessa and her cronies couldn't possibly find me up here. I turn to the next building, which was about the same height as the one I was on, and jump to the next roof, my innate abilities going at it again. This cat thing is so awesome right now.

As I jumped from building to building, I wonder why I never did this before, and why I would even think of doing this in the first place. I guess that feeling I got this morning was kinda right, things are going pretty different than usual. Maybe I'll actually have some luck and find someone who doesn't listen to Vanessa. Nah, that's being too hopeful.

After a while of roof-leaping, I see the school. Getting to the closest building to the school, I find another drain and slide down; although I had to do those tasks painstakingly slow so no one could hear me. When I got to the ground, I was about to walk up to the schools front entrance when I heard a familiar voice say, "_Well, I couldn't find Leo today, but I suppose you'll make an okay enough substitute."_

"_Crap."_, I mumble to myself. I hide in a nearby clump of bushes. I could only hear snippets of the conversation where I was from, but the gist of what was going on was that Vanessa had cornered someone and was about to beat them because she couldn't find me. I hope that whoever she's doing this to doesn't get hurt too much. That pain was meant for me after all. After a minute or so, I climb out of the bushes and into a nearby window, just as the first period bell was about to ring. I sigh in relief. I didn't have a first period, so I had about an hour until I had to deal with Vanessa.

During this time, I just wander around the halls, thinking of nothing in particular. Helps to relieve stress. It doesn't cure it, but it does its job well enough. I check a nearby clock and I see that first period is about to end. I turn a corner in the direction of my Calculus class, when out of nowhere, I run into something, more specifically someone, who was running at full tilt, knocking me and the other person over. My first thought was that this person was Vanessa, but I shove that thought away, realizing that Vanessa would never be caught dead outside a classroom on a school day. That and the air around this person didn't seem to radiate seething hatred and a cocky attitude.

DJ

I close the door behind me and breathe in the crisp air before making my way to school. Not exactly the greatest kind in the world, since downtown is close to my home, and the city is still reeling from that damn Kruglor's most recent attack, (involving a giant mech fight), but hell, considering that I'm still breathing, then that's good enough for me.

As I walk down to the sidewalk from my porch, I notice that it's still slightly dark out. My first thought was that this was a good thing, because I would be able to hide easier from the crowds who hurled insults at me nearly every day, but then I remembered that most of said people are animals with heightened night vision, so it didn't matter much. Insert **'I am a dumbass'** sign.

I sighed and walk down the sidewalk toward Toronto's School for Gifted Youths, one of the most prestigious schools in the city, hell, maybe even the province. Despite this though, it was really only a public school that had a good reputation and a rather pretentious name. They don't even have a screening or anything; they just let any Joe Schmoe inside. How else could an average guy like me get in? Yeah, I'll openly admit it, I'm not that smart, but if you had to take at least three different kinds of pills a day, then we'll talk.

The only thing I really am good at though, is computers. Just plop me in front of one of those things and I'll install, block, erase, hack, or virus crash anything you'd like. I don't know why though, it just seems that all the circuitry and coding makes automatic sense to me. It doesn't matter much though; I don't really get to use my talent all that much. After all, there's only one computer where I live and Grandpa Max would be royally pissed if anything happened to it.

I chuckle at that thought. You may think that might be weird, but if you knew my Grandpa, you'd be singing a different tune. Put simply, the man just can't stay mad for more than ten seconds. No seriously, I counted. For example, one time I told him that I broke one of his plates and I tried to hide it.

He then explodes and says things _like "What the Hell were you thinking?",_ or, "_That plate cost me at least thirty bucks, and now it's all gone!"_ Then after that initial explosion, he gets all apologetic and says sorry like there's no tomorrow. Then I tell him it's alright and we make up and everything is right with the world again. Honestly, it's a little weak of him to just not punish me, but I guess it goes to show how much of a good person he is. You'd think some of that kindness would pass on to mom...

No. She's not your mother. She disowned you the day the cops took her.

I shake my head of these thoughts and found myself three quarters of the way to school. Odd, usually one of Vanessa's cronies would be around here to either beat me or throw words at me. Must be preoccupied with something. I mentally shrug and was about to walk inside when I was forcefully shoved to the side and into a wall. Looking to see who it was, I was unsurprised to see it was Vanessa Richardson herself, steroid infused boyfriend Jason York at her side. Looking into their eyes I could sense a sort of disappointment, as well as bloodlust. She looked me over as if she were sizing me up.

Whatever she was looking for she found. She came closer as she said, "_Well, I couldn't find Leo today, but I suppose you'll make an okay enough substitute."_

I would've scoffed disbelievingly if I didn't expect what she said. Only one way out of this, and that was to use my other talent. Playing on her mind to lessen what could happen to me. "_Couldn't find Leo huh? That sucks."_

She snorted, "_Damn straight. Why? Do you know where he is?"_

I shook my head, "_No. Although, he might be inside. Why not go check?"_

She scoffed, "_And leave you here without punishment? That's a laugh."_

_"Yeah, but what if you missed Leo because you were here beating me? That would be a shame wouldn't it?"_

She paused, "_You know what? I hate to say this but you're right. If the puke did come here and I missed him, that would be an awful shame."_

I smiled to myself, thinking that I got away scot-free even if Leo got the shitty end of the stick (sorry, every man for himself right?), but then she said, "_That's why I'm going inside to look for him while Jason here takes care of you_.", she turned to the tiger, "_You don't mind do you?"_

He smiled down at her in an ironically tender sort of way as he said, "_Don't worry; this guy will be totally unrecognizable by the time I'm done with him."_

She smiled back, "_Thanks, I'll owe you one later."_

I groaned inwardly at the connotation. I didn't take a rocket scientist to tell you Vanessa was a 73 out of 10 on the slut and perversity scale, but nobody, not even her boyfriend could see that.

As she went out of my sight, Jason turned to me and said, "_Okay, now here's how it's going to be. I need to save my energy to help out Vanessa if she finds the waste of space, and I highly doubt you want to be beaten to a bloody pulp, so let's make an agreement. I punch you in the face a few times and I'll leave you be, got it?"_

I was confused. Lifting a bushy brow, I spoke, "_Wait a second, you relish in being the sadistic bastard you are, why are you... I don't know if sparing me is the right word, but it comes pretty damn close for you."_

He chuckled darkly, "_Don't get me wrong, I love beating the shit out of kids like you every day. My beef's with Leo though, you haven't done anything to me, yet, and since Vanessa ain't lookin', I figured I'd let you off easy."_

I sighed. At least my manipulation got me the lesser of two evils. The thought of running came to mind in that instant, but then I remembered that this guy was the captain of the football team. There was also the chance that I would run into Vanessa, who thinks that I'm getting my ass whooped right now. Guess I don't have much of a choice. Giving in, I said, "_Alright, make it quick."_

He pulled back his fist, "_I intend to."_

I braced myself. True to his word, Jason did make it quick, although he made no attempt to soften his blows. Guess I should've expected as much.

Blood was flowing freely from my nose as I stood back up. As I did, Jason left and went inside the school. Thanking my lucky stars, I heard a rustling from some bushes. Looking in the sound's direction, I saw a gray cat in blue clothes emerging from said bushes before diving through the open hallway window. Leo. Guess he wasn't inside after all. Just hope that Vanessa or Jason find him, for his sake... Shit, my face hurts.

Aeris Morning

"_AERIS! VINCENT! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" _

I shot awake the moment I heard dad call for the two of us. Man, I will never get over his militaristic way of calling for us, but I can't exactly blame him for enlisting a few years before he met my mother and retired after 10 years. In any case, I angrily got out of bed, only to be greeted by the sheer cold of the whole second floor of the house. "_Dammit, dad." You turned the heat off again, didn't you?" _I muttered as I slightly shivered in place.

I walked to the large mirror I personally placed on my wall and looked at myself. Good Lord, I'm a wreck. My long hair was a complete and total jumble, making me look like some anime character. The rest of me wasn't so bad, it was just the way I looked whenever I woke up: Disheveled fur, messed up pajamas, and sleep in my eyes. It was 6:00 A.M. as my alarm clock read, and today would be the first day for me to start over. I felt a little nervous, but of course who wouldn't be, after all I'm going to be repainting the image I once had into something new and something I can be proud of. I swore that'd I do this right and that's what I will do. Before I could delve any further into my thoughts, the door to my room flew open and I immediately felt a small paw grasp my own. I turned around and looked down to see the shining yellow eyes of my 7 year old little brother, Vincent 'Red' Cole.

He beamed brightly at me, obviously showing his eagerness of a new day and a new chance, "_Come on, big sis! Get ready cause I wanna go to the new school! My Xbox Live friend, Francis, goes to school here in Toronto!"_

How could I forget about that? I knew that Vincent had a friend he would play Gears of War 1 (I banned him from playing 2 or 3 until he beat 1 to avoid giving him spoilers) and other games with on Xbox Live, using his account, named Francis Dwight. It was obvious that Francis was a kid and around my brother's age since I heard the two speak via Live Chat, so hopefully they could get along well. That reminded me of two players who can match my skills in video games, mainly CoD, who lived here in the city. It made me wonder if I could find out who they were. I was again interrupted from my thoughts as Vincent started shaking my left arm up and down rapidly, trying to get my attention. "_Come on, Aeris! Go take a shower so we can eat and go_!"

I knelt to face my brother eye to eye_. "That eager to go to school, huh, Vince?" _

_"Yuh-huh!"_He responded, shaking his head up and down like a rag doll. I smirked while Vincent went wide-eyed in shock. He knew what I was gonna do next and before he even had the chance; I grabbed him and started rubbing my knuckles on the top of his head, while he struggled vainly to escape, laughing all the while.

"_Rush me, will ya?"_ I said as I continued temple burning him, while he shouted, "_I'm sorry, big sis!" _

I let him go and told him_, "It takes time for a girl to get ready so go on ahead, Vince, but eat all of the bacon and I will get you!"_

He nodded rapidly again, hugged me tightly, and ran off. Mom sounded shortly after he ran off, telling her son how nice of him to come for breakfast as the smell of mom's cooking wafted in the air through my open door. Before I could reach the handle, my father stepped in front of the door and stopped me from closing it. A grand and tall red furred cat stood there, raising an imaginative eyebrow at me as he gazed at me with blue eyes. "_Morning, Aeris."_ He spoke.

"_Oh, hey dad."_ I responded to him.

"_Ready for your first day?"_, He knew what had happened to me during the course of last year, especially after I came home, absolutely furious with those self-absorbed jack-holes and upset at myself for, well, various reasons but mainly because I feel guilty since I knew I could've saved Will… In any case, I shook that thought out of my head. "_No! I won't do that again! Never! I swear it… that I won't stand by like I did with Will."_ I thought to myself before facing my father and responding that I was ready for this new chance. A ghost of a smile crept on his face as he ruffled my already frizzled hair and said, "_Your brother's right. Go fix yourself up and come on down for breakfast. Hurry up, because Vince has to be there at 7:30 for an introduction to class." _

"_Okay, dad. I'll be there ASAP." _

_"That's my girl. Now go on. Get yourself ready."_ Dad left after that and I shut the door behind him.

The hot water was quite the warm welcome, especially after the cold air earlier, so I took a little time to enjoy myself as I allowed the steaming water to cascade down my body. That's all I have to say here… Get out, now.

Now I was ready. After fixing my messed up hair, letting it free-fall down nearly to my waist again, and straightening my earlier look, I looked at myself. I would definitely be ready for this brand new day. I stood proud in my usual attire, which consisted of blue jeans, and a dark pink shirt. Since I finished the major exams back at Ottawa, there were no problems with my transfer here. Everything was in order and now… It was time for a new day and a second chance to redeem the mistakes of the past.

I walked out of my room, shut the door and run down the short flight of stairs, through the living room, and into the kitchen where the rest of my family was. Vincent was chowing down on some French toast mom was still prepping on the stove, along with some eggs and grits. Dad ran downstairs behind me, spun around me, and wrapped his arms around my mother, having the usual suave look. I rolled my eyes, because I knew that he was, yet again, pulling another romance moment out of his infamous bag of tricks. God, I hope that doesn't happen to me when I get older, because that move is so damn cheesy. Grabbing a paper plate (we aren't poor. It's just freaking annoying to wash dishes over and over again.), and scooped some finished eggs, grits, bacon, and a few slices of toast then sat down at the table and began hastily eating beside my brother, who too was chowing down at a very rapid pace.

75 minutes pass and then dad calls for me and my brother to go to the car so he can drop us off. Both of us shot up from the couch, my silver watch reading 7:15. Vince's introductions would start in a few minutes so we would have to be quick. Normally, I would've driven but since this is a new town and all that crap, dad would show us around really quick before it would be okay to let me drive around the place.

The city isn't that bad looking. Sure, the coming winter will probably make it seem gray and lifeless, but still, it's going to be my new home, may as well look at the positives. Driving by a lot of people who looked to be about my age, I wondered about who my friends here might be. I knew I wouldn't make the same mistake as before and hang out with the so-called, "**popular kids", **but what about everyone else? My only real interests were video games and violent vampire/werewolf stuff, like Underworld (although secretly... I like Twilight...). Video games were my best bet, unless I wanted to wind up friends with some Edward fanatics, but how many gamer girls could there even be in this school? I know that the guys would be all over me, but for all the wrong reasons. This might be harder than I thought.

After my dad dropped off Vincent, the car became uncomfortably silent, something common considering that nearly every second he's spouting some sort of nonsense. It was about a minute after we left Vincent's new school that my dad started talking, "_Hey sweetheart, you okay? You seem a little quiet."_

I sigh. I didn't really like how dad usually got up into my business, but right now I needed someone to talk to, "_Yeah, just a bit nervous is all. You know how it is, moving to a new place and everything."_

He knew that wasn't the real reason why I was worried, but he went along with it, "_Well, don't worry. I'm sure that whoever you become friends with will be enjoyable people. Just don't-"_

I roll my eyes, knowing EXACTLY how the next sentence would go, "_Yeah, I know, 'Just don't make friends with any boys because they will only be friends with you to get into your pants', I heard this speech before dad."_

He chuckled, "_Just checking to see if you remembered."_

My mood started to brighten, "_How could I not? You've been drilling that into my head ever since I actually understood what 'getting into your pants' actually meant."_

He nodded, "_True, although I think you're being a little unfair. After all, I'm just trying to take care of you."_

"_There's a fine line between 'taking care of me', and, 'completely obsessing over my well-being', dad."_ I informed him.

This line of discussion carried on all the way over to my new school, and when we pulled in, my fears were slightly abated. Saying goodbye to my dad as I got out of the car, I drank in the sight of my new school, my brand new opportunity. At first glance, it seemed pretty bland, but then again, when was a more prestigious high school gussied up like one of those massive churches that have Christian bands and celebrities show up? In any case, I didn't see it like some other person would. I saw this as my second chance at everything I was affiliated for in the past, Jody, the popular girls, Will... for his sake I'd do this right. Already, other students started their approach here, some others standing in front of the gates, others doing their business, etc. _"Hey-hey-hey... What do we have here? Hey, guys, lookie here! Fresh meat! Sweater meat included!" _Already, I knew that this second shot at things was going to be difficult, but some pervert already throwing a lewd comment my way? No wonder Dad kept telling me to avoid guys. There's probably not even a decent one amongst these pervs...

This school was on a block schedule and first period (which I didn't have) was still going on, giving me some time to get situated before school really started for me. Right now I needed to find out where the hell this calculus class was, or else I'd be making a rather piss poor impression on the teacher there. Of course the school didn't think to make a map when I got my schedule, because that would be too easy for me.

15 minutes til' class time. Okay, now I'm starting to get a little panicky. Class is about to start and I have absolutely no fucking clue as to where all my classes are, let alone the one I'm supposed to be at. I start running down the halls, looking at each of the door numbers, hoping to whatever god that might be listening at this point would be kind enough as to switch all the rooms around so that the one I was looking for would be right in front of me, when I hit something, or rather someone, knocking the both of us onto the ground.

Aeris Meeting Leo

"_Dammit, that hurt."_ I thought. I heard feet shuffling next to me as I regained my senses after being knocked down. Getting to my feet, I saw a gray-furred cat boy standing next to me, tilting his head sideways like a confused child as he looked at me with emerald green eyes. It was awkward to say the least as I said to him, "_Hey, you alright?"_

This caused him to snap out of his mini-trance and say, "_Sorry, I guess I wasn't looking where I was going_." before walking past me.

At this point, I needed help and I needed it badly. A thought crossed my mind. Maybe he could help. As he walked away, I stopped him by shouting, "_Could you help me? It's my first day here and I don't know where the fuck I need to go."_

For a while, there was silence. He didn't answer me; he just had his back to me. Truthfully, I was pissed at this guy now. All I asked for was some help, and then this guy just stands there, his back turned to me no less. Shaking my head and groaning, I decided to continue my futile search for class before he shouted back, "_Hey, wait up! I'll help out."_

I turned around, thankful that he was actually going to help me, and said, "_Thank you so much."_

He made a dismissive gesture as he walked toward me, attempting to be modest, and "_It's alright. I'm Leo by the way."_

I smiled at him, "_I'm Aeris."_

Another silence. It wasn't awkward, but it did feel slightly uncomfortable. Leo broke the silence, "_Um, can I see your schedule? _

I nodded and handed him the slip of paper. After looking at it for a while, he said, "_Follow me."_

I did as I was told and he led me back the exact same way I came from, occasionally pointing out one of the classrooms I would be going to. Classrooms that I had passed several times. Insert **'I am a dumbass'** sign here. Although, this wasn't the half of it. The biggest middle finger of all was when he showed me where my last class was. It was the door where I started my search. I absolutely lost it at this point, "_Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me! I was right fucking there! How much of an idiot can I fucking be!"_

Leo attempted to calm me down, "_Hey, it's okay. A lot of people here get lost on their first day. It really doesn't help that they arrange the classes the way they do."_

"_Yeah, why do they that anyway?"_ I asked, curious why the school didn't put similar class numbers together.

"_Well," _He began to explain. "_On my first day here, they said it was arranged this way because they didn't want the students to just push their mental boundaries, but their physical ones as well. Their logic is that if you can push through getting from class to class, it shows that you have a will to succeed."_

I looked at him as if what he said was completely idiotic, but that was only because it was. I then said, "_Wow. That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard."_

Leo chuckled, "_I agree. If anything, it makes you hate school even more than usual."_

I laughed slightly at his small joke. Finally, a guy that seemed to think with the right head for once. Score one for me. Although, he didn't really seem to be the gamer type. If anything, he looked more like the local punk, what with all the scars and bruises on his face, even though many of them were mostly healed. Although, he definitely doesn't act like how he looks, that much I can tell. If he did, I definitely would've done my father proud. "_Hey, thanks again for giving me this mini tour, if you didn't I'd be dead for sure."_

He shrugged_, "Meh, it's alright. It was the right thing to do."_

I was about to ask him if he could tell me a few things that I should know about when I noticed on a nearby clock that it was only three minutes until the warning bell. I knew where I had to go now, so I didn't panic, but I hastily said, "_Sorry, I have to go. I have to make a good first impression after all."_

He nodded, "_I understand. You'd better hurry up if you want to get there before the bell. See ya there."_

I smiled at him before I literally turned tail and ran to my first class. So far, so good.

Leo's Stand

I could only watch as the girl, Aeris, walked off to the calculus class I showed to her while standing stock still, not even moving a single muscle within my very frame. I grew curious and my thoughts wandered to a possibility I long considered dead. Could I possibly get to be friends with her? What force on this planet was compelling me to think such thoughts when I buried that possibility years ago? But that girl, she made me feel different. Why? What exactly about her even caught my attention? "_She looks like my mother…" _

Could that be it? Maybe I should try talking to her again. Yeah, I should. She hasn't met Vanessa or Jason yet, I can tell that much about her. Maybe she could be my first true friend. Could she? My body was telling me to follow her and take the chance. I didn't want to, knowing the very huge likelihood of Vanessa steering her away from me like she does to all new students here, every one of them taking arms alongside her in the hunt for Toronto's resident monster, i.e. me. But there it was, my heart telling me, "_Go…"_

The bell rang, signifying the start of the school's 5 minute warning, but I didn't care. I was trying to fight against my heart, that one damn thing I decided not to listen to in years. But it was a losing battle from the start as my mind flooded with possibilities. Losing the war, I began my trek to calculus class with Mr. Melton in order to speak to her again, hoping for a 'hello' in the least when I heard the sounds of other students coming. Eventually, one spotted me despite my best efforts not to be seen and shouted, "_I found him! He's outside class!" _

"_Shit!" _I thought before breaking into a sprint to escape the quickly gathering crowd of followers, all of them possessing killer glares in their eyes. Some intercepted me as I neared the west hall, running north as they charged at me. Hopping to the side, I ran across the wall to evade them, some trying to grab me, others trying to attack me with fists and claws. Smirking as the others called me a freak for running on the wall, something I considered normal since I had done it in the past, even if only for a brief moment (which at this time was more than enough to evade my pursuers.). I shot by some random students who quickly broke into chase mode after realizing it was me they saw, along with the now huge crowd. I made a sharp turn to the west corridor, where my class (and hers) was at the end of the very long hallway, but I bumped straight into someone again, but this time, it wasn't someone who possessed this gentle aura, it was the nightmare I had known ever since I was a child: Vanessa Richardson.

It was painfully obvious it was her as she recovered to her feet. I would've recovered even faster than her and took off before she even knew it was me but I was too stunned by the fact that she was waiting for me, planning a trap, and the fact that I didn't even care because of that girl. She was standing above me, that snow white wolf with white eyes, wearing that damn skimpy clothing again. God, she looks so fucking slutty in those clothes, but all of these damn spineless idiots say she looks so gorgeous and sexy in that, especially the posse of girls behind her. Fucking cowards.

Vanessa smirked evilly as the others began to circle me, some congratulating Vanessa for catching me again, while others were goading her to fight me right her and now. Even though she was a monster in every sense of the word, I was still a gentleman, no matter what happens, so I refused to fight back against her, yet her boyfriend was a different story. But right now, I had her to worry about. "_So… caught again freak? You really are a stupid dumbass for falling for the same trick again. Also, you ruined my perfectly good looks with your disgusting form, so now you are going to have to pay for it." _

Truthfully, I could easily evade them all, so long as Jason or his group wasn't present, but something inside me, my heart, told me to stay, to stand up against her. "_What the Hell am I thinking?"_ I thought to myself. I knew full well what happened last time I tried to stand up to her. Last time I did, I was limping home with multiple injuries from her, Jason, and his group after they were through with me. I, again, fought against my mind, trying to choose the lesser of two evils, but again, I lost and stood on my two feet, letting my tail softly hit the floor behind me, while those behind me took a few steps back while keeping the circle intact. They didn't want me to escape, and that's why they were trying so hard to keep it intact, all of them on baited breath, ready to cheer the true monster onwards to attack me. But, I didn't care about them, or the extreme danger I was in. I just didn't. I could only think of what could possibly be my only chance at being friends with someone who was smart enough to just pass by Vanessa's threats, but I guess the fact that she makes good on them would frighten them. Ruling with fear… What a coward. She looked at me oddly before saying, "_What, you aren't even going to try and run?" _Her grin suddenly came back, "_Well, I suppose you just made my job easier then."_

She immediately came at me with her right fist pulled back. I knew what was coming, but I refused to flinch, to duck, or even attempt to defend myself. Although, that didn't stop it from hurting any less when I hit the floor with a broken nose. All around me I could hear everyone cheering for Vanessa, shouting insults at me. At this point Vanessa would usually stand over me and basically tell me to give up on life. Not today.

The cheering stopped when I started to stand back up, and when I looked in Vanessa's direction, everyone behind her had wide eyes. Vanessa however, was nearly unreadable, her squinted eyes betraying how much she absolutely hated me. When I stood at my full height, I wiped the blood away from my face and smirked. It surprised me was that I wasn't even terrified about my own blood on my arm. Ignoring that for now, I once again decided to infuriate her. I don't know why but seeing her angry and hot-blooded was quite the entertaining show, despite the fact that I was getting my ass kicked. In a tone that matched my expression, I said, "_Thank you sir, may I have another?"_

Nearly everyone gasped. In all the years that Vanessa had been torturing me, I never once even tried to fight back (well, not in front of this big a crowd anyway). Vanessa knew this, and she knew her credibility was on the line if she didn't suppress this right away. If it was even possible, her eyes narrowed even more as she said, "_What did you just say?"_

I scoffed, liking the feeling that insulting her was giving me, "_Oh, what, do I have to spell it out for you Van-ass-a? Well, you see that punch you threw at me felt so nice that I just couldn't help but ask for another. I mean, I know that you give me at least one every single day, but if you could be so kind as to give me another right now, I'd appreciate it."  
><em>  
>What the fuck am I saying! That was pretty much an invitation for her to hit me again! I'm acting like a total idiot! But at the same time, I can't help but feel like this was how things were meant to be, me being an idiot and saying stupid things I mean.<p>

Anyway, getting back to the real world, what I saw in Vanessa's eyes when I looked into them was pure and deadly malice. I think that after I said the Van-ass-a thing the rest of my words fell on deaf ears. The rest of my thoughts were drowned out when she shouted a cry of rage so loud that it would even put a banshee to shame. She ran at me with fists clenched, teeth bared, and lips snarling. Time seemed to pause, like Vanessa was using the VATS system from Fallout 3 to decide where to hit me. Then, I felt a sudden pain from my crotch, where she thought that she could do the most damage. And the count goes up to 785.

As I fell to the floor, the cheers coming back uncertainly, none of the others expecting what would happen next after a few moments earlier. While on the floor, Vanessa stood over me, looking at me like I was some sort of trash that should be thrown away. She then said, "_Now, what do you say?"  
><em>  
>I knew that it was "<em>I'm sorry"<em> she was going for, but instead I let the idiot side of me take over again and said, "_Do you like touching me there? Because I say that you have a pathological desire to be very close to my dick. I mean, why the hell did you punch it when you could've kicked it? Ha, I can almost picture Freud doing pelvic thrusts inside your head."_

Simultaneous gasps came from the crowd, some of the other students whispering stuff along the lines of, "_Did he really just say that_?" I knew that half of the people surrounding us didn't even know who Freud was, but I knew that Vanessa knew who Freud was, and what I said set her off again. She was about to raise her heel to stomp it on my chest, and since she was wearing heels, that was going to really hurt like hell, when I was literally saved by the bell. She lowered her foot back down to the floor and said with a voice filled with an indescribable hatred, "_Don't you dare think that this is over. Somehow you grew a backbone, and I'm going to find out how. And when I do, I will break you to pieces."  
><em>  
>She turned to the crowd, "<em>C'mon, morning beating's done. We'd better get to class."<em>

No matter what had happened between me and Vanessa, it didn't mean that the others stopped listening to her. They all filed away, every now and then I heard a voice say something like, "_What the hell just happened?",_ or, "_Did he really just stand up to her_?", and other such statements that showed me how surprised they were at my small stand against Vanessa.

With a slightly pained grunt I got up and walked over to the Calculus class. If you're wondering how I could possibly stand up after an attack like that, all I can say to that is that I'm a fast healer.

As I put my hand on the knob of the door, my mind wandered over to the girl I met earlier before that whole fiasco started. The girl who could probably be my one ticket to happiness, no matter how temporary. The girl that somehow reminded me of my mother. Aeris. I needed to know more about her. Something was telling me that my very sanity depended on it. The bell rang just as I managed to slip into class. Everyone else had obviously managed to get inside before I did, and I was lucky enough to grab the door as one of Vanessa's posse members attempted to slam it on my face, which here was a free ticket to detention, much to said girl's (Sallie Downs, a cockatoo) fury. Vanessa's posse always made it their goal to soften me up, until their ringleader got to me, by any means necessary. I smiled as I saw the girls give a slight glare, and that Sallie was mouthing words to me. Even though she was silent, I could easily tell what she was saying. "_You are so dead, you abomination. Vanessa won't let you get away with this." _

Rolling my eyes and quickly flipping the bird (yes, I know the irony), I smirked while she raised her eyebrows in shock, along with others who caught my little display of rebellion. Taking my seat in the midst of the room, everyone, save a kid named DJ, as was usual, moved in their seats slightly every now and then to get away from me, I noticed the seat behind me was empty (my position was the rightmost lane of the class desks and the 2nd furthest back). Shortly after, the teacher, old man Melton, as I used to call him when he taught junior high, walked inside with that new girl again following behind him. Everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked forward to see the new student. Some of the guys had curious looks on their faces. Hell, this high school may be for gifted and intelligent students, but somehow, all the dumbasses and sick fucks managed to get in these halls so of course it was no surprise when I scoffed at their sick looks. Immediate responses of, "_Shut up, dammit!" _or "_You'd do that too, if you could ever get it up after what Vanessa did to you, ass."_ sounded in my direction.

Back to more important matters, I sat calmly as Mr. Melton introduced us to the new student, who I already had the luck to meet first before anyone. She had a confident look about her furred face as she carried her book in her arms, folded to her stomach. After informing the class that a new student was joining us, the teacher told her to take the empty seat behind me, in the south-eastern most side of the room. I was in front of that seat while DJ, the other loner besides me, sat to the left of it. Many students suppressed their groans, but I was happy inside because I would be close to her. I silently thanked Jeffrey, the red male cardinal student who sat behind me earlier this year, for getting expelled for throwing a sharp object (i.e. pocket knife. Hit me in the back near the base of my tail. He was a huge Vanessa supporter, mainly because of his idiotic crush on her) at me once in class, per Vanessa's orders of course.

Back to reality, she walked by as the teacher turned to the board to begin his teachings, until one of the perverted guys, a brown furred punk dog named Lupin, pinched her rear as she walked by him, granting a small '_Eep'_ of surprise and shock from her. I felt disgusted immediately at him as he grinned broadly and high-fived one of his buddies sitting next to him, something instinctual telling me to rise and strike him. Fortunately, I didn't have to because only a second later, Aeris turned around suddenly, and with a look of pure fury, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, bitch slapped him, and nearly broke the hand that touched her by bending it the opposite way, all in an instant. I looked at Mr. Melton and was surprised by his reaction. He smiled at the girl's violent display and muttered something only I could hear, "_Well, that's what you get punk."_

Afterward, she threatened to finish the job if he so much as breathed a word to anyone about what had happened just there and then, and the next time he touches her would be the instant she would… castrate him in public. Nodding rapidly to avoid any more pain, Aeris let Lupin go and strode to the back. She stopped for a moment after she saw my face and had a look of complete shock. Fortunately, the others were so afraid of her after her display of strength, they paid attention to Melton's lecture more than Aeris now. "_Definitely like my mother…"_ I thought, sadly remembering her last stand that Christmas Day. The same fiery will and gentle nature… Granted, I would have to take care not to infuriate her, otherwise I could easily wind up like Lupin.

As she passed me, Aeris asked me softly, "_What happened to you? You look terrible! Are you okay?" _

"_Don't worry about me. Thanks for asking though. I'll heal by the end of the day_." I whispered back so I would catch no one's attention, which thankfully worked. She raised an imaginative eyebrow in curiosity of my response concerning my healing. She walked by me and took her seat behind me and next to DJ, who I noticed raising an eyebrow as well. As the class went on, she whispered to me, asking about the curriculum of the school, rules, standards, and thanked me every time I responded calmly to her. I felt at peace nearby her, which was a first. "_It's a slim chance, but I think I can do it..." _I thought. "_Maybe... She could be my friend... this strange-colored angel..."_

**Holy crap, it has been a while, but I'm back, guys. Enjoy. I'm outta here. Ja'ne.**

_**Good God, this took way too fucking long. Oh, well it's all done now, so I guess it's alright. By the way, isn't there something you want to say Lux? Something about being grounded?**_

**Yes, father Matt. Yeah, I had my ass handed to me through a series of unfortunate events; the end result is me being removed from computers for 2 months. But I'm back. And even though I was gone for that time, I was able to keep the speech up with Matt so we can make the chapters faster. Sorry for the wait. Also, 61% of this chapter goes to Matt since he remained faithful to this little project despite his other stuff. Thank you Mat, you are a trooper. Again, this is LuxUmbra2012 **_**and MadManMatt64 **_**both saying, **_**"JA'NE!" **_


	3. Chapter 3

Leo

I honestly don't know what just happened. I don't know whether all the bad things in life for me just vanished or took a vacation, but either way, I'm truly happy to be around Aeris. It's only been a week, not counting last Friday, and I'm already in much better spirits than I ever have been before. She's nice to me, granted she doesn't know much about me yet (according to everyone else) and, unlike everyone else, she treats me like I'm normal and not a monster or abomination hell bent on destroying everyone's peace of mind.

It's Friday, thank God, and school's nearly over for the day. I already know a few things about her. One: She barely moved here a few days ago when her dad got a job transfer. (Honestly, I thought she was an Army brat, but her dad retired.). Two: She had a major intolerance of anyone who even smarted off to her, which does kind of explain what happened to Lupin. Poor guy, I never saw him so livid after that. (Granted, I liked what she did. That pervert needed to be taught a lesson.). And third, I found out that she was an avid gamer. I could tell she was trying to hide it from me, and getting her to reveal it wasn't the easiest task. But I ultimately tricked her into revealing it. It was kinda of easy, considering her intelligence. Figuring her name, I asked if that was her actual name and she responded that it was her real name. When I asked if she met any sadists with a god complex, she responded that she killed one, probably figuring that I wouldn't guess that I wouldn't refer to Sephiroth. Afterwards, she seemed pretty embarrassed that I found out, and asked me not to tell anyone. I gave my word that I wouldn't, well more my honor as a Leonardo. Which then led to her asking about my family. I didn't really want to answer her about what happened, but luck was on my side as her father showed up and she had to leave, but not without saying, _"See ya tomorrow!" _to me.

Thankfully, no one was around. After all, she was the kind of person who would get as far ahead of everyone else here. Heh, good luck. Me and Vanessa have been holding the best grades here so far. And speaking of Vanessa, oh man is she pissed at me. Well, more so than usual. She wants to kill me. No, I think she wants me dead and my corpse scattered around the Earth in many pieces. The short version is that she has been trying hard to crush me, but fortunately, hasn't had the time, or I just remind her through my own way that I'm still here. My own way of playing and toying with her. Whether she realizes it or not, people are seeing that I'm not taking this anymore. I don't know whether I'm being brave or stupid. Probably both. But you know what, I like it!

As I was thinking earlier, today's Friday and school has just finished. Good thing summer break is around the bend so I can get to know my new friend more. So, now that everyone's gone, I can sneak over to art class and offer an invitation. I hope she doesn't see it as wrong. I'm not like those other guys, and besides, I'm too decent. I mean really, who would think of me being as low as that bastard rotting in jail? (Vanessa, for starters…).

I made my way to Aeris after everyone else dispersed to the art classroom, hoping to speak to her about my friendly invite. And so far so good. No one has seen me yet, or rather the huge grin etched on my face. I haven't been this eager in a long time. Only one more turn until I make it to the hallway outside, and the hallway is clear. Yes! Thank you, beautiful gorgeous Lady Luck, you must love me! Excitement level reaching critical! I headed for the door, nearly throwing restraint into the wind, until the door opened. Out walked Aeris, and Vanessa, and her group with her laughing! Lady Luck just gave me a troll face.

It was just then that Aeris noticed me and waved me over. She looked happy to see me, so I could take some comfort in the fact that our friendship wasn't ruined yet by Vanessa. Vanessa also turned to me, probably wondering who Aeris was waving to. When she saw me, she looked at me wide-eyed, as though she didn't at all expect me to come. Steeling myself for the eventual beating and emotional torment, I walk over and say timidly, _"Hi Aeris."_

_"Hey Leo_.", she said, not noticing that I had shied away from Vanessa," What's up?"

It was at this point that Vanessa butted in, _"Not to interrupt, but you actually know this guy?"_

Aeris shrugged, _"Yeah, we're friends. Why?"_

I knew what was coming before it happened. Vanessa nodded her head and said quietly, _"Is that so? Excuse me a moment."_

Vanessa then turned to me, seethed a moment, then punched me in the face. I blacked out temporarily when I fell to the floor, so I couldn't really hear what was going on. When I became conscious, Vanessa was crouching over me and said, _"Well, look who's up. My, my, didn't your whore mother ever tell you to clean up after yourself? Just look at all this blood on your face. How pathetic."_

She took out a compact and opened the mirror, revealing my bloody face. Immediately I panicked, and I once again blacked out, but this time there were images. My parents, laying in their bed covered in blood, a Cheshire grin plastered to a homicidal maniac, a horrible knife glistening with fresh blood.

When I woke up again, I was alone in the hall. Everyone probably left and I was guessing that the janitor wasn't on rounds yet. Then I noticed something. Aeris, who I thought was my friend, left me here. She let Vanessa hurt me. She didn't defend me.

She left me.

She left me.

She left me.

She left me!

I... feel cold.

There's a voice in my head.

It's singing.

Softly, sadly, but it drew me closer. I could make out the words to what the voice was singing, **"Get them... make them pay... make them suffer... Rend them to pieces… Kill them… Kill the traitor." **

It was a nice little melody that made me feel good, but in a way I didn't like at first, but that song… And then, I start singing it too.

DJ

There was that horrible energy again... It was even stronger than before... I could hear the sound of forced laughter coming from the entrance to the school as I saw Vanessa and her posse walk out, apparently in good cheer. Well, all except that new pink cat-girl, Aerith, I think. Eh... Who cares? In any case, she looked angry as hell. My guess is she probably found out exactly what Vanessa really is. And I also guess that she made the decision to tag along with her in order to prevent the same thing from happening to her.

Now where was I? Oh yeah! That horrible energy again. I recognize that power anywhere... It's the same power I felt all those years ago when I still lived with my parents. Although, this one was... there wasn't any evil. Just … sorrow. But it was far more than anything I've ever felt, almost more than Pantsman, that comedic do-good-er. I don't know why I can sense them, but I can, and I never questioned it further after that. But I guess it started back when I still lived with the stars of 16 and Pregnant, i.e. my parents. I wasn't all that miserable as a child, because I still had a small light within the dark hell I lived in. A friend. Before I turned seven and ratted my so called parents out to the authorities, I had a friend. He was like a brother to me, his own innocence trying to reclaim mine from the void that was the hell I lived in. His name was Tuck, Tuck Stansky. He was a great guy with unusual powers; yeah I said powers, just like Pantsman and whoever is giving off that power inside the school.

Tuck and I met as 5 year olds attending kindergarten. We were next door neighbors and yet I really didn't care much about anything or anyone, my anger focused purely on mom and dad, but he was, as I said, totally innocent, enough to sicken me at first but warm my heart as time passed between us in kindergarten. He even showed me his powers once when I stayed over with him one night. Creating a small yellow orb of concentrated energy from his fingertips and letting it float away from his hands and glide around the room. I dropped my jaw in absolute shock when I saw this, wondering how Tuck was able to do the same things I saw on Japanese shows; preferably my favorite show, Dragon Ball Z.

He was even able to control where it went, as he demonstrated this by letting it softly glide towards me. He told me it could do the same things that Pantsman's could do, making me realize that this tiny orb of concentrated power could, well, kill me in a manner I'd rather not describe right now. But it didn't do what I feared. No, the sphere softly landed in my hands. And it was so warm to the touch. I liked it. I wondered how he could have done such a thing. Truthfully, at the time, I lost my sense of cognitive thought. The warmth just became everything. I felt happy. Happy… Heh, that was a first.

It was like this for a while. Our secret meetings, the light in my hands, Tuck's smile slowly bringing back my heart, the growing friendship I developed with this pure-hearted child. I liked this for the longest time. That is, until that bastard cop killed him. Yep, that's right. Mr. "OH MAH GAWD!" killed an innocent 6 year old child, _and_ was praised for it. You see, people who don't have power will want the power and if they can't have power then they will try to manipulate the one with power. And who better to manipulate a 6 year old boy than the boy's own poor as hell parents.

Now you know why I seem so dark. I've seen the very worst in humanity and live with it daily. No wonder we are looked down on so much by the animals of our world. But I digress. Anyway, Tuck's parents discovered his powers one day, and when they realized that they were the parents of someone who could be invincible like Pantsman, they thought that through their son, they would become invincible as well. I tried to stop them when they took Tuck for a little ride, but my own parents, who found out about Tuck's powers through me, were in on their scheme. At first, I thought Tuck would be home after a while, but when I heard my dad shouting loudly when the TV was on, I snuck inside the living room, and saw another moment that displayed the worst of humanity. Tucker Stansky was being forced into robbing a bank by his parents, who were holding hostages, making threats to kill them if law enforcement intervened in any way.

As the parents gathered the money from the vault, Tuck sat there, crying from what I could see. I could tell instantly that this was the worst thing he ever could've done in his life. Only shortly after, they wanted to prove the credibility of their threats. And how did they do that? They forced Tuck into destroying several law enforcement vehicles with his powers. With every car he destroyed, he kept sobbing on how sorry he was. I was stunned. _"We're gonna be rich! Finally, raising this little bastard will be Easy Street_!", my parents celebrated.

"Pantsman…please stop this… Please…" I prayed that this event would stop and Tuck could still be my friend, but that darker and smarter part of me knew that there was no way in unholy Hell that Tuck would come back, dead or alive. I just never thought what would happen next.

Pantsman really did arrive to settle the conflict, but before he could do anything, a gunshot went off. When the camera panned back to Tuck, there was a small hole in his head and he fell down on his back. I knew what that meant. I played my dad's violent video games as an outlet for my anger, so I knew he was dead. That bastard, Schwartzen-Cop. He killed my best friend and even though he was hated at first, the people of the city were grateful for him in stopping the Stansky's, even if it meant killing a 6 year-old. The fame for the televised murder is what gave him that egotistical attitude, that nothing and nobody could hurt him now since he killed a META-carrier. A META-carrier who was only six years old. My best friend...

Tuck, that innocent little boy, was gone, leaving me in the darkness yet again. But even though the shadow claimed me again, I would forever resist the evils of the worst of humanity, even though it was all I ever had known back then. I guess that's when I finally had enough since only a few weeks later, I turned my own parents in for their involvement with the robbery.

As I stood there, recollecting on the past, the pink girl suddenly came back to the school gates. She stopped in front of me, panting, before lifting her head and gasping, "Have you… seen Leo?"

Leo? Wait a minute... If he's still inside, and if the power is coming from inside... Holy crap, it's Leo!

"_Yeah, he's inside. But… you should be careful. I don't know what he might do next now that-", _I stopped when I saw that she had ran inside the building, ignoring my warning altogether.

It all made sense. The power rising after the girls left. Vanessa must've attacked Leo again, and I know he has been trying hard to be friends with the girl now. Watching events go by is something I do. Vanessa must've dragged her away from him. No wonder she looked so livid as they left the school. But right now… I just hope poor Leo doesn't do anything he might regret, because his power right now… it's getting pretty damn close to Pantsman's level, and that's definitely not a good sign.

Aeris

I stood there, shocked at what had just happened. Vanessa was standing over Leo, having punched him in the face for no reason whatsoever. Her eyes betrayed a hateful glare in his direction, and after a good ten seconds, she spat at him, turned towards me, smiled, and came back. I was more than a little confused and angry at this point, _"Just what the Hell was that!"_

Vanessa motioned her head toward Leo, _"What, about him. Trust me, you'll be thankful later."_

My fists clenched, and I could feel my claws digging into my palms. I was trying to keep calm and not do anything too rash as I said, _"And why exactly is it that I should be thankful to you?"_

Vanessa scoffed, _"C'mon. It's Leo. You know, Leo?"_

One of Vanessa's group interrupted, _"Actually Vanessa, she's new here"_

Vanessa snapped her fingers, _"Oh yeah, you were telling me that. I'm sorry, I should've explained."_

She walked over to the still unconscious Leo, picked him up by the scruff of his neck and said, _"Aeris, this is Toronto's resident freak, Leo Leonardo the Third. I'm sure you've met him already?" _

I nodded stiffly. Vanessa than breathed what sounded like the sigh of a relief, "_Well, it's a good thing I caught him trying to lure you away from me so that he could..." _she shuddered, _"Do things to you."_

I eyed her with confusion, not buying a single word she was saying. I then asked, as much as I didn't want to, _"What's wrong with him?"_

"_Well, first of all he-", _She was cut off when we all heard Leo stirring from his knockout. She held up her hand as an indication to stop talking, and once more walked over to Leo. With an evil smile, she crouched over him. As his eyes cracked open, she said, _"Well, look who's up. My, my, didn't your whore mother ever tell you to clean up after yourself? Just look at all this blood on your face. How pathetic."_

She then pulled out a compact and opened it, shoving the mirror in Leo's face, which for some reason made him start screaming. As he wrenched his eyes shut and squirmed under that literal and figurative bitch, I couldn't help but think back to Will. How I didn't do anything. Not this time. This time, I fight back. But before I could even put one foot out, the other girls in Vanessa's gang grabbed hold of me, holding me back from helping my friend.

I struggled as best as I could, and I was about to break free when a voice next to me pleaded, _"Please, just stop!"_

So I did, and with a scowl I turned my head to my left to see a raccoon girl who I remembered was named Shannon. As I looked at her, I tried to roughly tug my shoulder from another girl's grasp and said, _"Why should I!"_

She had on a sad look, _"Just, please listen to me. We don't want you to end up like him."_

I looked back over to Leo, who had fainted once more, and noticed that Vanessa was coming over.

After seeing this too, Shannon said, _"Crap! I'll explain later. Don't listen to anything she says!"_

So, Shannon and the others let go of me and Vanessa said, _"Sorry about that. Now, where was I?"_

"_You were telling Aeris about why Leo was so bad."_, one of the group told her.

Vanessa made a noise of conformation, _"Yeah, I was, wasn't I? C'mon, walk with us, I'll tell you everything you need to know about this here freak."_

I did as I was told, and started walking with the others. As I did Vanessa started telling me horrible things about Leo. She told me how he was the illegitimate son of a British immigrant and an American crack whore. That they had both overdosed on morphine while he was a young boy, leaving him in the care of his perverted "Uncle". That Leo turned out no better than his parents, taking drugs, peeping into girl's locker rooms, going out of his way to cause trouble for others for his own sick pleasure.

"_And that was when I knew enough was enough.", _she told me as we walked down the sidewalk, _"I knew that I had to keep that little shit in line. And I've been doing a pretty good job with that, haven't I girls?" _I didn't believe a damn word she said. None of this shit made sense! _"So, he does that_?" I lied as best as I could without betraying my anger. _"Gorgeous, great intelligence, and way too naive... You're just like my cousin, Aeris_..." Vanessa responded.

All of the others gave off laughter that made me sick to my stomach. I turned around to glare at them, but I saw another one of them looking at me with sad eyes and shaking her head no. Then, others did the same. Deep down, I was relieved that they were all as sickened as I was by this, although that relieved feeling left when I heard Vanessa start up again, _"And I've been doing all I could to keep him in check for the past decade or so. I tell ya, it's hard to wash all of this blood off my fur. Just wish that he would off himself already."_

Her last sentence made me scowl at the ground. To say that I was pissed was an understatement. Here I was, hoping to get away from everything that happened in Ottawa, but now here I am, back at square fucking one!

I was gritting my teeth as we kept walking, and finally I had enough of what Vanessa had to say. Trying to make my voice sound as pleasant as possible despite my extreme anger, I said, _"Hey, Vanessa?"_

She stopped and turned around, _"Yeah?"_

"_I just realized that I overshot my house.", _I lied.

"_Oh. Sorry." _Vanessa apologized, "My story must have been really engrossing if you missed your house."

"_Yes it was.", _I was lied through my teeth. Literally, I was grinding my teeth while I was lying so that I would keep myself calm.

Vanessa didn't seem to notice this however, and told me, _"Well, sorry again. I'll be seeing you then."_

I smiled and nodded, tensing my right arm. Turning around and walking away, I looked over my shoulder to see if the group had left. They did. I then started to run to the school, run as fast as I possibly could to my friend. My anger was fueling me; everything Vanessa had said played and replayed in my mind. There was no possible way any of that was true, and every time I thought about what she did say, I felt like punching something.

After reaching the school, I stood at the gates and panted, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. I looked up again to see that I was standing next to a black human wearing a short sleeve red dress shirt and blue jeans that looked a little too big for him. He was sitting at the gate, looking curiously at me, eyebrow raised. Hoping that he could help me, I ask between pants,_" Have you... seen Leo?"_

As soon as he said, _"Yeah, he's inside. But-"_, I took off without another word from the guy.

I retraced my steps back to the hallway where my last class was, and my heart dropped at the sight. Leo was still on the floor, a little blood having smeared around his head. I strode over to him, hoping that I could help him up or at least regain consciousness. But... why does everything feel so cold all of a sudden? As I got closer, I thought that I could hear him whispering something that I couldn't really understand. Well, at least I know that he's awake. He's probably singing to himself to avoid getting knocked out and going into a coma.

When I got to Leo, I kneel down next to him, and said, _"I'm so sorry about that Leo. I'm here now."_

Although, he just seemed to ignore me. All he did was keep on whispering. I put a hand on his side, _"Uh, Leo? Are you okay?"_

After mentally slapping myself for asking such a stupid question, I noticed that Leo was still ignoring me. All he kept doing was mumble to himself. Getting a little curious as to what he was saying, I leaned in closer. I was more than a little disturbed when I heard that he was repeating, _"Make them suffer... make them pay... __**Traitor…"**_over and over again. What the hell? Was he singing those words? Leaning back a little, I make one more attempt to get his attention by saying, _"Hey, Leo. It's me. Remember? Aeris?"_

That actually seemed to do something. He stopped mumbling for one thing, which I thankful for. That whispering was really starting to scare me a little. I then heard him croak, _"Aeris?"_

I nodded, _"Yeah, it's me."_

"_You betrayed me, Aeris." _he accused in a harsh voice_, "You betrayed me and left me."_

_I was shocked to hear him say that, "That's not true! If it were, than why did I come back?"_

"_You still left me_.", he told me as he sat up_, __**"And you must suffer the consequences."**_

He turned around to look at me, and I gasped. His eyes had taken on a soulless look. What the Hell had happened with Leo? Before I could actually ask him that though, he lunged, picked me up by my neck and backed me into the nearby wall. My feet weren't even touching the floor. HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT!

I was terrified. I saw Leo as a second Will shortly after what Vanessa did to him, but now… with him holding me against the wall, lifting me off of the floor, all with a single paw, I had every reason to be afraid of him, and I didn't know what to even see him as anymore. I knew he was angry at Vanessa, but that near-soulless look in his eyes told me that whoever was close by, he would release his hate upon. And it just so happened I was the unfortunate person that was nearby him. I did have a few questions though, even as I struggled to break free from his grip. How was he this strong all of a sudden and why did he suddenly lose it just now? Judging from what Vanessa said and the malice within both of their voices, they must have some sort of intense hatred for each other. That much was obvious.

But, back to here and now. Here I am, being choked by a guy I had been around for a week, hardly knew about personally, and probably has the most fucked up life ever, now turned into a savage and near-mindless monster. I didn't understand. Why me? Why me, again?

I had to get loose from him. Whether he realized it or not, he was slowly choking me to death, and I did NOT want to meet my end here. I yelled at him to let me go. He responded with a savage and primal roar that deafened the hallways and snarled at me. His eyes…did…did they flash a different color just now?

_"Goddammit, let… GO!", _I screamed at him.

It earned a stunned reaction from him as his grip lessened. Using the opportunity, I grabbed the arm that held me, and twisted the skin and fur in opposite directions, a small torture prank I pull on Vincent from time to time called 'the burrito'. Leo hissed and dropped me fully. I stepped on his foot as hard as I could, knowing full well it wouldn't do much to him, but the next blow certainly did its job at bringing him to his knees as I slammed my right knee into his crotch. This was the same tactic I pulled on Eric Jacobs back at Ottawa, and I was hoping never to do it again… Was dad right?

The impact to Leo's nads seemed to work rather well. His eyes had teared up a little, and it seemed that he had a little trouble walking. Although, horrifyingly enough, he just seemed to shake it off after a few seconds. What the hell was this! He then came at me once more with a roar, paw raised and claws out. I wanted to run, I really did, but for some reason I couldn't. I was rooted to the spot, and all I could do was wrench my eyes shut, waiting for the claws to come down. But, they never did. I opened my eye a little and saw that his claws were only a few centimeters from my face. Looking at his face, he was blinking, eyes returning to normal, a few times and said in a small voice, _"A-Aeris?"_

His voice was cracking as he still held his position, claws barely scratching my throat. Without warning he pulled back his hand and began to whimper while putting his head down. Something told me this was the first time he ever truly let loose his rage. I guess I was just too close when it finally happened. After all, I've seen others suppress their anger for god knows how long until, one day,' boom'. Oh, and I've done it before too, granted that poor sap had the worst ass kicking a pissed off girl like me could provide. But how long was he holding back that kind of anger?

He looked up, straight back at my face. His eyes were tearing a little as he said, _"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"_

I held up my paw, _"Save it."_

"_But Aeris, I-"_

"_Listen to me.", _I interrupted, _"I can see you regret what happened and I'm willing to let this slide under one condition."_

"_What?", _he asked, slightly curious.

I sighed. I knew he wasn't gonna like my condition, _"What happened to your parents? I… have to know the truth."_

He seemed taken aback. He then asked me in a odd combination of confused and slightly sad, _"Why? Why do you want to know?"_

"_Because, that monster told me horrible things about you and I refuse to believe a single word she speaks ever again after today.", _I told him truthfully.

I could practically feel the sadness and fear as he thought over what to do. I sighed, _"Look, if you don't want to tell me, I understand. I'll just-"_

"_No_.", he interrupted me_, "You're my friend Aeris. You deserve to know."_

He walked down the hall and motioned for me to follow. So I did. He lead me out into the courtyard and sat down on a bench. He indicated the spot next to him and I took it. As I did, he looked ahead and sighed_," Okay, here goes. It was 13 years ago at Christmas time._"

Leo

So, I told her everything. Starting from Christmas all those years ago, I told her about how their killer got life instead of the death penalty, my uncle raising me, my many long years of school, Vanessa. I spilled my guts out to her. Occasionally, she would interrupt and ask questions, like what my parents were like, my uncle, how I withstood Vanessa's attacks. Although, she did thankfully stay quiet as I told her about the murder. Heh, don't really blame her, she needs her sleep after all.

After I finished, I honestly felt... I don't really know how to describe it. I just felt... good. Like my stomach had started loosening up after all these years. I looked up at the sky with a neutral look, and took a extremely deep breath. After doing this, I looked over to Aeris, who also seemed to have a neutral look on. Se was probably still taking all that I had to say in. There is only so much that a person can take after all.

After a while of just sitting on the bench, Aeris spoke, _"I'm sorry."_

"_About what, my life_?", I asked.

She nodded, _"No one should have to go through that."_

I leaned forward and looked at the ground,_ "Nothing anyone can do about it."_

"_But still_.", she protested_, "From what you told me, you didn't deserve any of that. You don't deserve any of this."_

I smiled a little, _"I'm glad to hear that. I don't really think that many other people share that opinion though."_

_She her paw on my back, "At least you know that it's my opinion."_

I faced her, smiling, _"Yeah, I guess."_

After that, we just sat at the bench, doing nothing. I just looked ahead, and Aeris did the same. It wasn't really an awkward silence, just silence. Eventually, Aeris stood up and said, _"Well, I have to go. My dad is probably worried about me right now."_

I nodded. She pulled out her phone, but as soon as she started dialing, I said, _"Wait a second."_

She looked at me, _"Yeah?"_

Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. However, I bolstered my courage and said, _"Would you mind coming over to my place?"_

She gave me an odd look. Suddenly, I realized why, _"Not that way though! I know you like to game, and I'm an avid gamer myself, and I have a lot of games, so I just thought I would ask."_

Her apprehensive look then turned to one of amusement, _"Alright, sounds harmless enough. Let me just tell my dad."_

I nodded and she went back to dialing. When she finished she started talking to who I was guessing was her father, _"Hey Dad. Yeah, sorry about that, I got a little sidetracked. Yeah, about that, I was wondering if I could go over to a friend's house for a while. Yes, he's a boy. Come on, you taught me too well to even think that would be a possibility. That was one time dad, I told you not to bring that up. Look, I've known him ever since I got here, and he really doesn't seem the type. Yes, he'll have family there. Yeah, I'll be home by 8. Thanks."_

With that she hung up the phone and said, _"Alright. Lead the way."_

And I did. I was leading someone to my own home, and they weren't planning to kill me. This is a miracle. I almost killed her, but here she is, walking home with me. She must be so merciful to forgive me after that! I haven't felt like this in so long_. "So what are you good at?" _I asked.

DJ

Hmm…Well… It's faded. And I can see the two leaving the school, just passing the gates giving some friendly banter. So… Leo gained a friend. I didn't mean to overhear his conversation. I really should stop resting in the tree near the front. I'm surprised Leo had such a nightmarish history and I can see why he temporarily released his power. He makes me a little nervous, because that strength was insane, and I fear what would happen should his sanity and morality reach the breaking point. But despite all of that, he gained a friend. Jumping down from the tree I thought to myself of the possibility of gaining friends as well.

Looking at them leave, walking towards the sunset, I smiled. If he, who suffered a darker past than mine, wasn't alone anymore, maybe I can be no longer alone if I try. With that small hope in my head, I headed home, a brighter hope in my eyes. _"Tuck, I promised I would go on. I'm gonna keep it, I promise. I know, my old friend, that you're rooting for me from the skies above. I'm gonna fight my destiny and change everything!" _I then took off in a sprint, a grin on my face.

Well, people, life whacked me like a dancing banana with a baseball bat. In short, development is proceeding, but submitting the stuff is a different story... I blame Matt.

I find that offensive but me being the mature soul that I am will not. However, I must point out that at least I don't keep my partner's hanging for quite a while, like some other authors I won't mention.

(Only kidding)

D'oh... Well, I shouldn't really be getting mad at this guy. He's pretty decent in a lot of ways. So, in that case, I'm glad No. 3 is done. Sorry for the wait, so this is LuxUmbra2012 saying, "Ja'ne!" And this is MadManMatt64 saying "Read and Review"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Leo's POV

Ever since the incident, I've been a lot calmer, and I feel like I can control that rage and hatred within me. I tried resisting it for so long, but I guess I couldn't hold it when Aeris left. She informed me that she was simply dragged away, and also, that Vanessa's so called friends truthfully despised her, even more than me because of her unrivaled cruelty. Yeah, these last few weeks let me know exactly how much the girls truly hated her. If anything, the following week after that, after I got another beat down from Vanessa, I swore I caught a few spiteful glares in her direction from her posse, probably from Shannon…

In terms of my friendship with Aeris, I have never been any happier before, and Scott noticed my change as well. He actually smiled like he did when my parents were still alive and was elated to know that after all these years of pain that I and he went through, I finally gained a real friend. I was eager to see her, to enjoy her presence, and her company. She was the only person who treated me like I was an actual person, with emotions and feelings. She ultimately discovered my identity on Xbox Live and boy was she surprised that I was one of the two that rivaled her in CoD, Gears of Wars, etc. But now, the weekend had drawn to a close, and school would start tomorrow. So, after the assignment was finished, we began facing off against online players in Left 4 Dead 2. The two of us wound up as the survivors, alongside a newb, and the enigmatic Umbra. I've ran into Umbra a few times before but now he was siding with us, when normally, he always was against me. He, over Live Chat, always said it was a challenge to face me. But now, with Aeris on my side, I guess he wanted to try something new. Aeris claimed he was a coward to side with us, but I replied to give him a chance. The map was Dead Center, and we were going up against some good players, but they would be no match for us.

While I shot at the simple common zombies with the Uzi I picked up from a dead soldier, Umbra2008 blew the head off of an incoming Hunter that lunged at him with his shotgun, killing it instantly as its corpse unceremoniously hit the floor, specks of blood staining my already stained clothes. "Aww, nice. Now I smell like zombie!" I lashed at him. "It's an improvement, especially after what that hunter did to you earlier." He responded in a deep voice. The others snickered behind me as I recalled what happened earlier…

I was temporarily split from the group after a massive Tank attacked, smashing me off the top of the truck that led to the walkway. The others however had a witch that was trying its damnedest to kill the one who disturbed its crying cacophony. Who unfortunately had to be our extra player, 9384. While said player was screaming trying to avoid the pursuing witch, Umbra and Aeris ruthlessly blasted it with their high caliber weapons, trying hard to aim for the head, all the while a horde of infected was approaching and fast. And I saw a few coming at me, all of them bashed aside by the tank, declaring with its loud roar, that I will be killed by it and it alone. As a shot at the horde, taking a few heads off in the process, I had to remember to shoot at my more dangerous foe more than the tiny fleas headed my way. As I bobbed through the street leading to the walkway, I finally staved off the small horde coming for me as the others broke off, no doubt heading for the others, but the Tank still wanted to pummel me into dirt.

"Come on ya tub of crap! Bring it!" I yelled out as I riddled my enemy with clip after clip after clip. It roared loudly as it was closing the distance between me and my bringer of death. I stood my ground, my back at the fence that barred further passage up the street and still shot at tank was dead in front of me as it finally motioned to attack… But another shot to its tiny cranium proved to be the fatal blow for it as it howled in pain before it collapsed on its nubby legs. I put an end to the monsters existence, alone. "Boo-ya!" I cheered out in triumph. My celebration would be short-lived however, because as the Tank collapsed, a Hunter jumped from behind it, cleared the gap, and sank its claws into my clothes and skin, knocking me on my back as it tore into me, howling in delight as it tore, scratched and scrapped at any chunk of flesh it could tear, all while I screamed in terror and pain as I saw my own sanguine fly from its natural habitat. I struggled to remove it, but its grip was solid as the eyeless thing kept tearing and clawing me to pieces. (No… not like this… don't let it end like this…) I thought weakly as it continued… (This is it… I'm gonna die here.) The pain was blinding, and preventing my death, and forcing m to feel every moment of it… until everything went black, and the pain ended…

I jolted upwards, screaming as my friends helped me to my feet. My shirt was destroyed and my wounds were bandaged, cauterized too. Umbra claimed that the Hunter killed me and they couldn't get to me, since a Smoker, nearly dragged Aeris off to her death as the others got off the truck. When they freed her, executed the smoker and got to me, it was too late, as the Hunter leapt off of my body and jumped away, biding its time most likely… But Umbra, having the policy of, 'on normal or higher, always carry a defib pack', had just the thing to revive me from death's embrace. And after a few tries with the pack, they got my heart beating after doing what they could about my wounds. Rubbing my sore frame, Umbra shouldered me as the others destroyed whatever infected followed. Eventually we took sanctuary in the gun shop. I sat down on the floor, brandishing a brand new shiny assault shotgun. Aeris picked up a first aid kit and tended to me, numbing the pain immensely, and actually making me feel a little better.

She picked up another, and then handed me the spare, while again, Umbra picked up a defib unit, nearby the corpse of a survivor. Poor guy… He looked like that rich guy, Ronald. Later during the journey we had to retrieve some cola for the owner, who would then blow the tanker blocking our path to the mall to absolute smithereens. The 'transaction' went smoothly and we made to the entrance of the mall, after killing off a few more infected. As Umbra went inside, a figure tackled him and started clawing at him. Since the others were dealing with a few stragglers, I knocked the figure off of him only to see the same hunter that ended my life just an hour earlier (going by game time, not real time. Do you honestly think it takes just a few minutes to get from point A to point B? No? I thought so.) The thing looked at me rather incredulously before snarling loudly, but I wanted revenge… I whipped out my shotgun, aimed the barrel at its head, and pulled the trigger. The second I did, I showered myself in gore, but I smiled in satisfaction. "Recover from that, asshole." I spoke quietly as the headless hunter collapsed on the floor, coagulated blood leaking from the stump of its neck.

Helping Umbra to his feet, he gave his thanks as the others walked in. Noting my recent kill, Aeris whistled. "Not bad." She spoke as I closed the metal door, temporarily escaping the nightmare…

And as expected they stood absolutely zero chance against us. Noobs. Noobs, I say!

Time passed, and Sunday came to a sad end. As much as I wished this day could go on forever, it didn't, and when she received a phone call from her father saying that it was time to go home to get ready for tomorrow, I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. I offered to accompany her on her journey back, since we lived only a few blocks from each other, which she graciously accepted. With a smile, I opted to get the door. As I opened it, I came face to face with my uncle. Now, he had never really met her, since he always left and handled his own business, so he lifted an eyebrow as he saw her behind me, packing her Xbox and games.

"_So, that's her, huh?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Hmm…so what are you going to do now?"_

"_I was going to escort her back home."_

"_Hmm. All right. It is the gentlemanly thing to do. I'll see you when you get back."_

Well, that went way better than I expected. I'm surprised he didn't say much about my new friend. I mean, considering the fact that she IS a girl; I figured he would say something, especially since we were the only two inside the house. Aeris finished packing her things and stood up to face my uncle. She seemed a little perplexed; until I realized that I never told her that Scott was a human. But, again, to my surprise, they simply exchanged friendly greetings to each other, and after that she stood at my side, asking if I was ready to go.

"_Your uncle is the exact opposite of what Vanessa told me.", _Aeris started, but then Scott cut in, his smile seeming to disintegrate "_Vanessa is a manipulative and malevolent girl. You'd do well to avoid her."_

"_Thank you, but I already learned that one real fast."_, she informed him.

Scott then smiled again,_ "Well, take care. You're welcome to drop by anytime." _

With that we left and began the trek down towards her home.

Aeris' POV

It was a pleasant stroll to say the least. He told me about local spots that remained, intriguing me with his of his silent ventures. Truthfully, I didn't know he was a free runner, but he told me he just barely given it a try the day we met. Interesting, to say the least. Being a new student, it's kinda easy to figure that one out; he asked as to why I and my family moved here. I explained that my father received a job transfer, packed our bags, and moved out to Toronto. I had to admit, I didn't expect to make an honest and decent friend so fast. However, I still had to be wary around him. But it was purely because the reminder that happened not so long ago…So who's to say he might try something, despite his beaming face otherwise… He was way too cheerful, but I guess that when you have a friend for the first time in 12 years it's kind of excusable. In that case, I asked him about his history, even though I already about his parent's tragic murders. He explained more about himself and his ordeals with that monstrous bitch and years of hell he went through, not to mention Mr. Ramsoomair's restraining order from Vanessa for a false rape charge.

I pulled out the key I needed to enter home. The moment I did… My dad was standing right there at the entrance, giving me a rather steely glare. Oh boy… At that, he turned his sight on Leo… that seemed unaffected be his glare… as if though they were staring each other down. I never have seen anyone look at my dad without being intimidated by him.

"_So…You're the guy, aren't you?" _

"_Yeah, the one and only."_

"_Thank you… Looks like the city isn't crap after all…"_

"_Thank you, sir."_

"_No tricks, boy…"_

"_Swear or my family honor."_

"_Bye! See ya tomorrow!" _

"_Same here!"_

Leo

How can I accurately spell how I feel right now? No way because I can't! Totally awesome day with someone who accepted me for me! I am so happy! There's no way I would anyone to destroy my friendship! No one! (Not even you…) Well, I was laughing like an idiot as I went home, some jerk shouting for to, and I quote, 'SHUT THE FUCK UP!". Yeah, like I cared. Hah! I opened the door and was graced the smell of Chinese food. "Sesame seed chicken?" "How could I forget, nephew?" "Sweet.' "You seem rather enthusiastic today but I can already tell why. It's nice of you to be with someone who accepts you for who you are." "Yeah…' "It really is… Something told me I had the appetite of a black hole since I just kept chowing down on dinner, much to Scott's shock, before he joined in. Before long, it was time to hit the hay, (after cleaning up of course. I don't want any roaches in here. Damn roaches bug the hell outta me). For a surprise… I didn't see that bastard… I slept nice, seeing my confidence returning… and her laughing alongside us as we simply had fun… Tomorrow would be a bright future. I can feel it!

Aeris

The next day rose and after I got dressed and said my farewells, I began my trek to school, granted carrying a crap load of materials for the project. God, this stuff is heavy. I was going to take the car, but Vincent HAD to wake up late, so I HAVE to carry this crap to school now. Fortunately, Leo and I crossed paths on the way there, so it exactly wasn't that much of a nightmare. During the trek, we just spoke about last weekend, and possible plans for this week. I really didn't know much about the city, so Leo offered a tour after today around town. There were a lot of places he told me about as I listened intently to every detail. He even mentioned a place that sold the chilliest treats in town, which apparently to him, was the best tasting stuff for even the hottest of summers. During the conversation, I noticed DJ walking behind us, apparently struggling to carry something. It probably was his project, I assumed, and before I had the thought to help him, he perked up and simply walked by the both of us at a hurried pace. Thing must be murder for his back. Before long, we wound up at the school. Truthfully, I was prepared for the responses I would get for being associated with Leo, but he suddenly stopped where he stood. He then turned away and was walking in the opposite direction.

"_Hey!"_

I called out to him, "_What are you doing?"_

He stood there, casting his gaze aside until he spoke up as I approached him, "_Aeris…Go on ahead. Go and catch up with Vanessa… I don't want you seen with me."_

"_WHAT!?"_What the hell is he talking about? I don't care what people think about my friendship with him, so why should he?

"_Listen. The fact is your friends with Vanessa. I don't want to blow your chance at having something I never had for who knows how long. So, I'm asking you, as a friend, please go on ahead. I promise I'll be ok. Besides, today's the last day of school. I'm pretty sure I can take what Van throws at me. Can't be as bad as last year."_

"_What happened last year?"_

"_Forget I said that, now get going. Hurry up before someone sees us, please! _"He looked rather desperate… Dammit, I told him I didn't care but now he has to act so goddamn moronic to have me stay with that fucking bitch… as much as I didn't, and believe me I DIDN'T, I ultimately agreed to his proposition, gave a sad farewell before I went off ahead and found Vanessa yelling at a tree for some weird reason. After greeting her, she threw a rock up in there only for the same guy I saw a few minutes ago to tumble out and fall flat on his face. As he fell, I heard a horrible ripping sound and saw that the left sleeve of his shirt had been torn, exposing a massive scar. What the hell is that scar on his arm? It's fucking huge! What the hell happened to him?

"_Dammit! I was sleeping in there! We still have 30 before the day starts!"_He yelled out in frustration. I can clearly see why he was mad… I wanted to step in before they could do something about him. But before I knew it I was dragged into this.

"_Hey! Had a good weekend? Well, today is the last day of school, so let's go out with a bang! How strong are you?"_, Vanessa questioned me. I did not like where this was going… Vanessa shoved me in front of DJ, who was now reeling from a series of brutal attacks from Jason and his lackeys…

"_Show us! Give this guy a good wallop to the face."_, she brightly beamed at me as I turned to DJ, who simply looked at me with a black eye and a cut lip. No emotion was behind his eyes… He had seen this before and noted my sympathy with a nod.

"_Get it the fuck over with…"_, He breathed out. And I did so. I punched him hard across the face, the others being quite surprised at my strength. DJ was barely able to get himself to his feet after what happened…

"_Whoa! Jason, you might have some competition for toughest one here!"_ Vanessa exclaimed, smiling cheerfully.

"_Damn…You're good."_, Jason admitted begrudgingly.

"_He's barely conscious! Finish him!"_, One of Vanessa's less sympathetic cronies cheered.

However, DJ was spared when another one of the less sympathetic cronies saw a certain gray-furred cat, "_Hey! Freakshow showed up! GET HIM!"_

I turned my head to see the crowd chasing yet again after Leo… But he laughed as they gave chase, ultimately leaving out of my sight. I felt sick, knowing this is what I was involved in. I did NOT want to be a part of these monsters…

"_You hate them too huh…?"_I heard DJ moan out behind me. It was just me and him, after all. "_Don't worry…"_, he continued,_ "Over half the school does… You aren't alone… Ouch…"_

"_I'm sorry."_, I apologized,_ "I didn't want to do that."_

"_It's fine… Go, before they come back."_

And so I did.

The day itself passed fairly quickly. I was happy for that, especially since after this, it would be summer break. I wouldn't have to be anywhere nearby Vanessa, I can learn about my new home and city, and no longer be ashamed of being friends with Leo. Of course, I still had to watch as the followers still pursued the overexcited Leo around the halls. It was hilarious to watch… except when he would eventually get captured and beaten for his defiance. Granted, he had some snarky remarks to Vanessa about servitude…

"_These people serve me…"_, she had said, trying once more to break his spirits.

_Yeah, serve your dick…"_, he said back defiantly.

Short version, bloody nose...

And finally all that remained was the school's pep rally for the following year, since I would be spending my last year here. And the even stranger thing. The football team and cheerleading squad had set up some sort of surprise to commemorate our fellow students. It sounded rather pleasant, instead of the usual evil antics of Vanessa Richardson.

As we all sat on the bleachers, I was ultimately accompanied by Leo, DJ, and some of the more sympathetic girls of Vanessa's gang, Shannon included. We had some small talk, and there was no hostility. Everything was fine. That is until Vanessa began a little announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, for our pep rally, we'll need a volunteer! But, don't bother raising your hands; we already have someone in mind! Out resident freak, Leo Orlando Leonardo the 3rd!"

As soon as his name was spoken, Leo was grabbed and taken from the bleachers. Some of the others in the seat tried to pull him back, but a quick glare from people dragging him away made them give up. I looked back down at the field, where they were dragging Leo away, and something about it seemed odd. There was this stage that looked like a bedroom and a few people dressed as other people. This is a pep rally, not theatre. Wait a sec… why is that one guy dressed like Mr. Ramsoomair? And there's another guy dressed like an older version of Leo.

"LET GO!", Leo shouted, sounding rather desperate, "STOP IT! NO, PLEASE, LET GO!"

I heard Leo screaming and crying as he was being dragged towards the miniature stage… I remembered what Leo told me about not associating myself with him. I totally disregarded that, as I ran down the stadium stairs. As I descended, it looked like the stage was stained red… It looked like… a master bedroom stained in blood…

"MOMMY! DADDY! DON'T GO! DON'T DIE ON ME!", Leo screamed loudly as he was tossed on stage.

Almost immediately, although many had faces of horror, everyone in the stands broke out in laughter as Leo screamed, trying to escape the stands as if his life depended on it. "NO! STAY AWAY!", He yelled as Jason, dressed up like some extremely ugly man drew closer to Leo with a dagger in his hand…

"MOMMY! DADDY! HE'S GONNA KILL ME! MOMMY!", He was crying like a child… and Vanessa was just having a laughing fit the whole time…And then it hit me… She's making Leo relive the night his parents were murdered! That's just Goddamned awful! I have to stop them!

They saw me running down the stairs, and when they did, Vanessa called out, "There you are Aeris! You here to help us out?"

I said nothing and walked up to the stage. I was furious about everything that going on. I couldn't contain my rage anymore. I walked deliberately up the steps, and up to Vanessa. She was about to say something, but before she could, I punched her in the snout, causing her to topple over. Immediately, everyone stopped laughing, astonished at what I just did. Everyone just looked on as I walked over to the shivering Leo and knelt down next to him. I put my arms around him, and said in a consoling tone, "Shhhh... it'll be okay... you're fine."

After a few moments, Vanessa stood back up again, her nose bleeding, and screamed, "You bitch! What the fuck did you do that for!?

I let go of Leo and stood up, turning around to face Vanessa. I scowled and said, "I'm standing up to you! I'm not taking this anymore! Leo's my friend, and I'm going to defend him!"

Vanessa was incredulous, "Excuse me? You're friends with this freakshow? Even after everything that I've told you?"

My scowl was still on full force as I said, "You really think that I'm an idiot? I never believed all the lies you spewed about him! Hell, barely anybody in attendance here believed you!"

Despite the fact that I just punched her not even a minute ago, the white wolf laughed, "Now, that's a lie. Everyone knows that Leo Leonardo the 3rdis an evil, perverted, low down, son of a crackwhore who deserves every little bit of pain that I and many others inflict on him.", she turned to the people in attendance, "Isn't that right?"

There was silence among the crowd, unsure if they were supposed to say something, or if they were just supposed to keep their mouths shut. Evidently it was the latter, because after a few seconds, Vanessa turned back to Aeris and said smugly, "That's what I thought. Now then, Jason, would you please-"

"You're wrong!", a voice from the crowd shouted.

Vanessa quickly turned her head to the source of the voice, only to discover that it was DJ. She looked just as surprised as I was to tell you the truth. He continued, "You've been lieing this whole time Vanessa! You want to know something? Nobody believes you! Everyone knows who the real evil one is, and it isn't Leo!"

I could only see the back of her head, but I could see her glaring daggers into him. She shouted back, "No! Everyone believes me! They would be crazy not to! My group believes me! Don't you girls!?"

She turned her head to where I was sitting before, where many of her group was sitting. There was an uncomfortable silence, only broken after a few moments after Vanessa shouted, "Well!?"

Then, one of them, who I immediately recognized as Shannon due to her raccoonish features, and said, "No Vanessa. We don't believe you."

Vanessa looked thunderstruck. Her mouth was agape when she heard this, but she soon regained her composure, and said in an unsettlingly calm way, "I see... may I ask how many of you don't believe me?"

There was a slight hesitation before most of her group stood up, as well as many of the other students. If I could, I would've pointed out that only a few minutes before they were laughing at Leo's expense, but then again, that would've been undermining the entire thing.

Upon seeing that most of the school was against the entire point of the, 'pep rally', Vanessa turned around, a blank expression on her face. She didn't say anything few moments before shouting out, "Fine! If you love this freak so much, then I may as well treat you all like him!", she turned to Jason, "Jason, I want you and the rest of the team to round up the freaks so we can take care of them!"

Jason looked a little discomforted by his girlfriend's request, but he nonetheless complied, saying to his cronies, "Alright guys, you heard the lady! Let's do this!"

The football team, along with Vanessa's more loyal servants, went up to the bleachers in an attempt to round up all of Leo's sympathizers, but this didn't work out as well as it could have. Soon, what was supposed to be a simple task turned into a huge fight, and it soon broke out of the bleachers and into the field. Luckily, Leo and I were still on the stage; however, we were also with Vanessa and Jason, who had turned to me and the slowly recovering Leo. He had stopped shivering, and he had started to become lucid when Vanessa said to me, "You... you're the cause of this. And now you'll pay the price."

She ran over to Jason and reached into his pocket, pulling out something, I couldn't quite see. It then became pretty clear when I saw the glint of a knife in her hand. She charged at me, arm raised and poised to strike, when someone ran into her, knocking her off balance and causing her to bury the switchblade into whoever the person's shoulder was. When he fell over, I clearly saw the person's face, and I immediately recognized it. It was DJ.

He fell off of the stage and onto the field, probably falling unconscious as well. As I saw him fall, I saw Leo start to stand up, shaking the effects of what Vanessa and Jason did to him. Vanessa was looking increasingly angry, and at the same time, I was too. She looked over to me, and said, "You... you're fucking dead you bitch!"

She unexpectedly tackled me, startling me and leaving me unprepared for what she was going to do to me. She was fierce, I can say that much. She was clawing and punching at me, and she was quick too. I could barely even get a hit in before getting two hits back for my troubles. It wasn't long before she hit me in just the right place, causing me to fall over and lose consciousness. The last thing I saw was Leo's horrified look as my body fell...

Leo/Dark Leo

The mental binds that he had placed could no longer hold themselves due to the incredible emotional damage done to Leo. He tried resisting as the seal he placed inside his own mind slowly began to break. He could see it, the haunting memories of his own tragic past, slowly rending what little goodness that remained outside of the dark areas of his psyche. He tried, very hard to resist it, but the turmoil, emotional strife, and pain that his friend was going through, not to mention others who had stepped up to defend him, was enough for his mind to become fully absorbed in the dark recesses of his inner self. There was nothing restraining him from doing what his darkest dreams desired, all the other side needed was an excuse…

"_**I'll protect your friend…"**_, his darkness said,_** "But I want Vanessa to myself."**_

Leo didn't even pause to think it over, "_Do whatever you want. Just don't let her get hurt anymore!"_

Outside of Leo's mind, everyone saw as his fur turned darker, his fangs grew longer, and his eyes grow more polluted with red...

Elsewhere….

Scott

"_I be back, Panty-Head-Man!"_

The voice of Dr. Von Krug-Lor yelled as he retreated away from the city after the resident defender had once again triumphed over the doctor, as his clones of Pantsman. Scott winced slightly as he fixed a nasty crick in his right arm as the Doctor fled the scene. "_Those clones are good, but they can't be the real deal, original Scott!" _he thought as he recalled the earlier events as the people cheered their hero for saving the day yet again.

The Doctor had yet again begun his rampage throughout the city and challenged Pantsman to a fight yet again. Despite the extreme threat his weapons posed to the people, the doctor was more of a person who would conquer instead of flat out destroy everything. Because of this, Pantsman had to be cautious when going up against the doctor to reduce the amount of damage done. After all, the last thing the city needed was to rebuild everything they had spent years building, not to mention the current state of the economy was… not the greatest, so to say. All facts aside, the Doctor had been trying a mixture of his demonic sorcery and scientific brilliance to create mind controlled clones of Pantsman. But his results were never up to snuff since they were constantly defeated and destroyed. The three he sent out were his latest versions, but since he lacked the original to base them off of, it was a difficult task to replicate his sworn rival, no matter how brilliant the mad-devil was. But in this circumstance, the three had actually managed to keep up with him, but only due to the 3 on 1 fight that ensued. But, despite the odds, Scott's alter ego had come out on top and saved the day yet again, forcing the doctor to flee the scene. But this time around, they had actually made him put a little effort especially since they 3 caught him off guard and took advantage of his stunned state. It wasn't weakness or anything; it was just that he had dealt with many clones at this point that he didn't expect them to do that.

As he descended to the streets, the people suddenly surrounded him, all expressing their thanks in stopping the doctor again, while news reporters quickly came, hoping for an interview with the masked hero. Believing that this was the end, he waited and actually allowed the reporters to come, all of them asking questions, such as why not kill Krug in the first place if he is a hero. Scott simply sighed and responded, "_I never did consider myself to be a hero, I'm just someone who decided to protect the people, as I have said before. And why not finish the doctor? Because, that right doesn't belong to me. If the doctor were to fall, then I will have no involvement what so-" _

Scott suddenly sensed something. Like a flash in his head, he saw a brief glimpse of red eyes and smiling fangs. And to make matters worse, he could feel a horrible power brewing not too far from him, and it was only rising higher and higher. "_Impossible. There shouldn't be any others aside me. I would've sensed them! Unless… No… It can't be…"_

The people gathered around looked at their hero as he turned around, facing in the direction of a coming storm. Odd, the weather forecast called for a bright, sunshiny day. What's with the freak weather?

With Scott, something inside him told him to go face this new power. Not out of protecting the people, but more… because he felt as if though something close to he was… he didn't know how to explain it. As he gazed further, he realized that whatever this new power was, it was emanating from the School for Gifted Youths. Another flash occurred inside his mind, this time showing blood on the walls, someone begging for their lives, and only a sadistic laugh. Scott's stomach dropped low. The last time he saw something even remotely close was that day 13 years ago. And it seemed to be repeating at the school. Without a word, he shot high into the sky and shot towards the school as quick as he could possibly allow. His sudden takeoff was explained by one final glimpse inside his head.

"_Let me go, you freak!" _

"_**No, Vanessa… Not this time… This time… I promise… I'LL KILL YOU!"**_

**Dark Leo**

As the fellow students began to panic at the sight of Leo's sudden change, he himself began taking slow, steady steps to the podium, where his target, the one who made his life hell since his parents were murdered, was standing, looking completely dumbfounded. His breathing was laced with a heavy air, one that made everyone around him shudder as a sudden weight fell on their shoulders. When DJ rose, still wincing after realizing the knife was still embedded in his shoulder, he saw it, the accumulation of years of sadness, anger, rage, hatred, and raw fury etched into perfection on the cat's face. At this point, everyone was in danger and he had no choice…

"_FUCK, RUN! HE'S GOT POWERS LIKE PANTSMAN! RUN, NOW!"_

Many people were rather skeptical upon DJ's declaration before he collapsed from pain. As people began to murmur the possibilities, the truth of his words was proved by none other than the one with the power himself. Dark Leo suddenly raised his hand, palm facing the very skies itself.

"_What the hell are you doing, freak?" _Vanessa questioned, perplexed about his actions.

The corrupted teenager responded by forming a compressed sphere of dark energy in his palm before blasting it sky-high. Everyone was stunned at his action.

"_**Oh…there's more to it. Look up, everyone, and watch the fireworks."**_

Blindly obeying, they saw the sphere grow smaller and smaller as it flew high into the clouds… Until...

*BOOOOOMMMM!*

A deafening explosion occurred high in the sky as the orb detonated, staining the very skies with blackness.

"_**Like my new magic tricks?"**_, He asked everyone around him, a hint of jest in his voice as he smiled darkly to those who looked at him, before smiling widely, allowing everyone around him the opportunity to see his sharpened teeth. Just for the sheer fun of it, he licked his lips and flashed them again before he suddenly was lifted from the floor, snickering madly as he drifted in midair to his target. It only took a second for this new realization to register within the other's minds before many of them began to disperse, some screaming loudly, others yelling "_RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" , "VAN PUSHED HIM TOO FAR!", _or _"HE'LL KILL US ALL!"_

After the commotion ended, only Vanessa, Jason, his goons, and Leo remained, aside those rendered unconscious by Van and her goons. The aforementioned group felt a sudden chill as Leo closed the distance between them, his blood red eyes dancing with delight and malice as he kept his eyes focused on Vanessa.

"_Ok, freak…", _Vanessa said cautiously,_ "That's enough." _

"_**Kill…"**_, he mumbled quietly, before making his voice much louder,_** "Kill… KILL YOU!"**_

Now, that scared her. She had to admit, THAT right there chilled her to her already frozen core. But before she could react, Leo disappeared. Within a few seconds, the goons around them were standing upright, then suddenly strewn everywhere, completely knocked out cold. After that, Leo reappeared and then suddenly grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the floor. Vanessa struggled to free herself while Leo began to laugh as he only tightened his grip. Jason, realizing his girlfriend's plight, rushed to the dark furred cat and tried to punch him. As Jason flung his fist, another slammed into his stomach, paralyzing him with pure pain.

"_**Stay out of my way… or I'll kill you next, Jason…"**_, Leo breathed into his ear before kicking him upside the head, slamming him into the nearby school wall.

"_LET ME GO, YOU FREAK!"_, Vanessa screamed in pure terror.

Leo laughed as he gave her neck a good squeeze before lowering her so their eyes would finally meet. As red meet white, Leo smiled maliciously before saying,

"_**No, Vanessa… Not this time… This time… I promise… I'LL KILL YOU!"**_

**Sorry about the delay. I had some major issues forcing me to work in the darkness. Now that Dark Leo has awaked, Scott will have no choice but to defeat this new menace before he does the unspeakable… Can Scott win? Or will everyone feel Dark Leo's wrath? Find out next time! This is LuxUmbra2012 saying 'Ja'ne!' **

Well... this took way too long. I feel that it is mostly my fault really. I had this for a while, and it was my responsibility to work on it... oh well. So, until next time, Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5

_**Well, I'm back in action. So to make up for my severe absence, I present to you the next chapter of NLA. Now begins the clash. I hope you all enjoy.**_

**No Longer Alone**

**Chapter 5**

**A Battle in which No one wins**

**A collab by LuxUmbra2012 and MadManMatt64**

If one would consider this day, they would tell you it was once a great day that then suddenly became a living nightmare, where even the clouds themselves blackened on what was once a cloud free sunny day. No one could expect that there was another person with powers, very much like Pantsman himself. However, with his own power and hatred clawing and ripping at his mind, just waiting to be released, no one could've guessed how much this boy could take before all the power was released and he was finally able to utilize it. And no one could have possibly guessed that the once happy-go-lucky young man known as Leo Leonardo the 3rd was this very person, now using these mysterious gifts to wreak horrible revenge on his tormentors. Well… his sole tormentor anyway, for he had already effectively dealt with the others. And if anyone was within the halls of Toronto's School of the Gifted, they would have heard the blood-curdling screams, loud crashes, and sadistic laughter coming from the halls. And if one were to follow this trail, they would come across a small trail of blood leading to the algebra classroom, where a gaping hole through the concrete wall would show where to go next.

Vanessa Richardson scrambled to her legs, the injuries put on her already causing massive strain for her to even rise to her feet, but now wasn't the time to collapse. She had to escape the school and run away from the monster following her, not wanting to be killed by its pure unbridled rage. Fear gripped her heart as she rose from the rubble, and gasped in pain when she realized that her right arm was broken. But there was no time to dawdle on her current blinding pain, she had to escape before more, much more horrible pain came her way, and from the sounds of the aura pulsating wildly and the laughter dawning closer to her, she didn't have much time before he caught up with her.

"**Oh, don't run, pet. We have so many games to play! We'll have so much fun playing together!**"__His voice called out from behind as she scrambled out and ran down the hallway.

"This can't be happening!" Vanessa screamed inside her head as she quickened her pace to the limit of what her broken body would allow. Her survival instinct was now on overdrive, constantly telling her; screaming at her, that if this dark force caught up to her, she would die. And behind her, she saw a malicious smile accompanied by blood red eyes, the crimson within dancing with delight as her once and forever former punching bag now followed her, a horrible aura of black pulsating from him.

"**I see you!**" he cried out in malevolent glee,"**Let's play some games! Let's play! I wanna play a nice game you played with me. 'How many bones can you break?' Yeah! Let's play that game, Vanessa! I'll break this time, though! Don't chicken out! LET'S PLAY!"**

"OH GOD!_", _Vanessa screamed out in terror as she just kept running, trying to find some way out that didn't involve her being used as a wrecking ball on the way, such as she was used earlier.

"**Don't run away!**" he called out to her as she stumbled away from him,"**I'll find you, and then we can have so much fun together! OH! I get it! Hide and Seek! Yeah! Let's play Hide and Seek! Then we can play the other game! Hide well! My senses are even stronger than ever! So, if you make a peep, I'll find you in a heartbeat! Hey, that rhymes! HAHAHAH!"**__

Leo's mentality was like that of a child… but he himself was now capable of devastating power now that this happened. How was the freak endowed with powers like that whack job, Pants-freak!? It's not possible!

"**HI VANESSA! I'M SO GLAD YOU SLOWED DOWN LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO CATCH UP WITH YOU! NOW WE CAN PLAY SOME MORE GAMES TOGETHER!" **He yelled as he suddenly appeared directly in front of her.

Vanessa paled. She didn't stop running from him at all. He grabbed her by the throat, grinning devilishly at her as he lifted her from the floor with ease with a single paw. Vanessa struggled and flailed wildly in a bid to escape his tightening grip around her neck. As she struggled, she looked at his eyes. It was just as J.E. had told her. Leo was destined to become a monster bent on destroying the world, which is why she did everything to stop him from fulfilling his dark destiny. But now, she had failed, and the evil was released. And she was to become its first victim. This couldn't be! She was destined to revolutionize the very fabric of the world! Her destiny couldn't be changed! She couldn't die by this monsters hand!

Dark Leo suddenly grabbed her wrist, and then with sickening sound, snapped it, eliciting a pained wail from Vanessa while he smiled in glee.

"**We are gonna have… SO…MUCH…FUN!"**,__ He whispered insanely into her ear, before breaking her other wrist and throwing her through a door into the ruins of the social studies classroom, laughing loudly as he rushed in after her, more screams of terror and pain coming from the room when he entered…

In the skies above, Pantsman saw the wreckage that his nephew had caused. From the football field to the school itself, a large ditch ten feet wide scarred the earth, no doubt the trail of Leo's devastation. It was gut wrenching to say the very least. To think that his nephew was holding back so much power... quick as a flash, he followed the trail straight into the building. When he entered, he heard the sickening sound of cracking bone, and the muffled plea of, "Stop... please... stop..."

Turning into the direction of the sound, Pantsman was horrified at the sight that greeted him. His own nephew... Leo... he could barely contain himself.

"LEO! STOP THIS MADNESS RIGHT NOW!" Pantsman yelled upon touching the floor after the fastest flight he himself had ever done. He touched down near Leo's location only to come across a horrible sight. The very boy he had to raise like a son shortly after his parents murder was stained with blood, a girl lying beneath him, beaten, broken, and bruised horribly. But the boy's new appearance startled Scott. What was gray was black; what was once kempt was messy and wild; what was green was now red; and the smile… from simple innocence, to demonic and blood-curdling. Eying the new person, Dark Leo tilted his head sideways, wondering why the local superhero was even here. There was nothing wrong with what he was doing. Destroying a monster wasn't a crime, was it? Nope. There's no law against that. Not to him.

"**To what do I owe the honor of meeting the hero of the city?"**_** h**_e questioned, that child-like mentality showing again.

"To stop you. I can't let you hurt the innocent, Leo.", Pantsman said simply, putting himself in a fighting stance, in case things became ugly.

"**The innocent?"** Leo questioned, looking all around him,** "I don't see any innocent here, just a spoiled rotten bitch who has to die." **

"Look, no one can kill!" Pantsman said loudly, attempting to get the point across, "You don't have the right! No one does!"

"**Really?"** Dark Leo questioned with an evil smirk,** "My new powers say otherwise…" **

Scott paled. "So… It is true." he thought, "He has finally awakened..." Then, shaking his head, he said,"I won't let you abuse your powers for the wrong reasons! You're a kinder soul than this. Don't put yourself on a path that no one should ever follow!"

Upon hearing those words, Leo froze, wide eyed, before suddenly exploding in anger, **"AND JUST WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO KNOW ME, HUH?!"** he shouted, shaking tiling off the roof of the school,** "WHO'S THE FAGGOT BEHIND THE MASK THAT KNOWS ME!? HUH!? YOU KNOW SHIT, YOU PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A HERO! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO LECTURE ME LIKE I'M A STUDENT TO YOU!?" **

"I'm asking you politely to step away from Ms. Richardson…" Scott said, before sighing, and adding on, "Don't make me use force."

It took a while before Leo answered, most likely due to him thinking it over, before saying, **"I may barely be able to use these powers…"** he then gave an evil grin,** "But I know that even you will have problems against me. Don't interfere with what is mine to take. This bitch-"**, he paused for a moment in order to step on Vanessa's head and crush it a little under his heel before continuing, **"Will pay for everything that she has ever done to me. Her life is forfeit to me! INTERVENE AND I'LL KILL YOU TOO!"**__

It hurt Scott to see this: His tormented godson, turning into such a horrible monster. It hurt more to watch him brutalize and maul his tormentor despite the way he was raised, and using his own powers only further his point. He was tearing this girl apart with his bare hands. And it hurt the worst, hearing his godson yell at him to back off or he will kill him too, proving that he would kill the girl regardless of the situation. But Leo... or whatever depraved monster he had become… he had to be stopped. Something that consumed by power and hatred cannot be allowed to continue going on. If it meant protecting the people from the most dangerous threat that Scott has ever seen…

"I'm sorry Leo." he said before raising his arms to his sides once more, "But I can't allow you to continue doing this… I have to stop you, no matter what."

"**I should've figured a second rate hero like you would try to stop me…"** Dark Leo said, grinding his teeth in anger,** "I'm doing nothing except destroying a monster. And yet you defend this bitch?"**

"You kill her and you will sink into her place, if not any lower." Scott said, attempting to reason with him, "Don't be a fool!"

"**You choose instead to stop me though…"**, Leo said, ignoring anything that had come out of Pantsman's mouth,** "So for that… you, Pantsman, a hero even more pathetic than Aquaman, will fall…"**, he smiled in pure glee,** "I can't wait to see you broken like her, a living testament to my wrath!"**

Behind the mask, Scott sighed. There would be no dealing with Leo or whatever he had become. He had to be beaten into submission… or worse… or else the entire city would suffer for his mercy. But this wasn't any ordinary opponent… This was his godson, the little boy he raised for over 10 years. He couldn't possibly…

"**Ready?"** the troubled boy asked, slamming one of his fists into an open palm.

"You bit off more than you can chew." Scott replied, cracking his neck in an intimidating fashion.

Kicking Vanessa aside with brutal strength, she grunted in pain as she skidded on the mud outside of the building, and into the nearby crowd that was gathering to watching the spectacle. Dark Leo smiled insanely at Scott before they both ran at each other, fists colliding with each other as they finally closed the distance between them. To Scott's shock, Dark Leo was equal to him in terms of strength, since neither was pushed back or even reacting from the fist impact. _"Damn… he is strong…"_ he thought to himself,_ "This could be a problem if I don't end this fast. Stupid clones… If I didn't have to deal with them earlier today, I could easily beat Leo." _

This was a truth he knew. Had the clones not caught him off guard, he could put his nephew down, save the city, as well as Vanessa, the target of Leo's wrath, and not kill him as well. It would have been a win for everyone… But not today. Today would be different. Today, he would have to go back on a promise he made, and fight his own godson.

"**And so it begins…"** the shade of Scott's godson said,** "I've been waiting a long time to take your pathetic ass down…"**

"If you won't listen to reason, then I have no choice!" Pantsman called out, "Prepare yourself, because I won't hold back on you!"

Within the Mind…

"Where… where am I…? What… what happened…?"

I awoke, dazed and confused, unsure of what exactly was going on. Raising my head, I could see that I was on top of what appeared to be a large plateau, adorned with sand and gravel everywhere. The sky was dark and thundering, so much so I could hardly see when I got up. My head hurts... the last thing I remember was... was... I can't remember anything... what happened to me? How did I get here? Why is it so sandy here? My head hurts... and I have no memory...

"**EHAHAHAHAHA! STUPID PANTSMAN! YOU WON'T DEFEAT ME, NOW THAT I'M FINALLY FREE AFTER SO MANY YEARS! I WILL NOT BE SEALED AGAIN!"**

What was that? That sounded a lot like me... well, whoever I am, that is. I wonder if he knows... Hey... that's a nice sword...

"_Wield me… Your mind is fragmented… I will help you restore your true self…"_

I blinked in curiosity. A talking sword? Neat. And it says it can help me? Don't see any problems with that. So, I picked it up, and put it in this sheath that formed on my left leg, the blade sliding in easily. Without anything else to do, and the sword at my hip currently not giving me any advice, I walked forward, in this vast rocky area. The closer I got I could tell that this place appeared to be some kind of ancient ruin of some sort. As I continued I looked to the horizon only to see something... huge. A massive figure was at the epicenter of the brewing storm, the thing obviously being the cause of this, as well this horrible feeling pooling in my stomach. In the center of a huge dais, with a bunch of small monoliths and bunkers surrounding was what looked like a massive behemoth with no legs. The lower half of its body was what looked like a tower, but the upper half was humanoid... massive hands with large claws extending from the fingertips, fur and stone encasing its body, the midnight black fur making small connected trails on its body. And yet... despite the features of the thing, what scared me the most was the monster's face. It was... familiar to me, but terrifying as well. I stumbled back and landed next to a shard of a mirror. I looked at it and saw my face for the first time. So that's what I look like. I'm certainly no pretty boy with those looks. But my eyes, my emerald green eyes, I definitely like those. They're so vibrant. I smiled, graced by the fact that all my teeth still intact. "I wonder what my name is…"I thought to myself. But something struck me then and there. That thing's face… It's… mine… What is that thing!?

Just then, as though the sword were reading my mind, it said, "_That… is the personification of all the hatred and darkness of your heart given form."_

"Talking sword says what, now?" I said, confused by its words.

"_I am Signa."_ it told me, it's 'voice' authoritative, yet quiet,_ "That which once bound him away. By setting him free, he now devastates the world beyond this world. Tenebrous Leonis must be sealed once more to save the world beyond this one and to restore your memory of who you truly are…"_

I had a million questions running through my head, and I could only voice a few, such as, "I set that thing free?! Where are we!? Tenebrous Leonis is that massive monster!? Why does he have my face!?"

"_Only by sealing him away will your memories return…"_ it said back to me vaguely

"Answer me, Signa!" I screamed, half expecting to cough up a lung while I was at it.

The sword gave what sounded like a sigh before saying, _"You created me to seal Tenebrous Leonis away long ago. But something happened, something that Tenebrous was able to take advantage of and seduce you with empty promises. Because of this, you removed me from him, setting him free. He sealed you in return, and this is why your memories are lost."_

"So… I made you to seal him… and now he's free." I said, calming down, and turning the situation over in my head, trying to understand it.

"_And must be sealed again. Only you have the power to do this."_ the sword said, its voice becoming somewhat louder.

I looked at my hip to the sword for a moment, then back to the monster in the distance. Making my decision, I drew the sword and said, "... Guess I can't run away anyways… I want to remember who I am."

"_Onward then..."_ Signa said, its tone satisfied,_ "Tenebrous must be stopped."_

So, I got to my feet and started moving towards thing, while it was laughing maniacally at something I couldn't see… Until, it's massive red eyes suddenly grew in surprise and turned to face me. I paled as the creature stared at me. And when it spoke, it felt as though someone had replaced all of my nerves with ice. Its voice was booming and sinister, and it said to me, **"So, you've awakened, I see… Sorry, but I'm having too much fun now that I am finally free. So... YOU NEED TO GO BACK TO SLEEP NOW!"**

The thing lifted a massive hand at me, and when he did, a black mist started swirling in its palm, creating a large black ball, and lightning crackling around it. Oh crap... I saw a small formation of rock just ahead of me and ran for it, just as he launched the sphere from his palm. I slid, just barely ducking the sphere as it exploded some distance away from me. I don't wanna know what would happen if I got caught in that... Then I realized something... I have to beat that thing!? How!? Another explosion occurred right next to the blockade I was hiding underneath. He was trying to destroy the barricade I was hiding at! I ran as fast as I could away from it, the area blowing up right after I left. I then quickly ducked underneath a large pile of rubble. But that one didn't last long either. I thought I had run out of places to duck and cower- err, I mean, cover, but thankfully there was a gap in the floor with a strange light not too far away. Hopefully, I could make it before Tenebrous could blast me. Gathering all of my strength, I dashed for the gap, sprinting as fast as I could, and sliding inside the hole in the floor, landing on my feet carefully…

"_Momma! Lookit!"_

"_Look, Leo! He's riding the tricycle!"_

Startled by the voices, I looked in the makeshift hallway down in the hole to see an image of a little boy cat riding a tricycle with two older cats following him, a man and a woman. There were others here? Didn't they know about the large creature that I created that was hell-bent on killing me? Evidently not, as the woman holding a video camera, probably recording what I deduced to be their son's efforts in riding the bike, and was oblivious to all the explosions going on outside. That camera seemed to be familiar somehow... and those two adults too. What is this stuff?

Before I could get too distracted by my thoughts, the little boy hit a bump on the floor and fell off the bike, hitting his head on the concrete floor. I seethed at that, as looked incredibly painful. The kid got up and then started crying very loudly while he was holding his scratched forehead. The woman, a tannish-golden-brown cat, picked up the child and started whispering sweet nothings in his ear. He stopped crying pretty fast. After this, his dad asked if the kid, who he called 'Leo', wanted to try riding the bike again. He giddily got back on, despite his earlier accident, and continued riding down the street.

At this point, I gripped my head, as something flashed through my memory. My name... my name is... Leo... That little boy cat was me... when I was 2... Signa was right. Maybe if I stop that Colossus, I'll regain my memories. I could remember the adult's names… Karen and Leo… Apparently, I was No. 3 out of them, while my dad was No. 2. Huh... these memories that flashed on the walls of the hallway were of my childhood days. I remember that much now. But I couldn't remember anything more in this hall. I guess I better move on to another place. Maybe there'll be more of those hallways with my memories in them...

Back on the fields…

"Damn... what the hell happened to me?"I moaned out as my consciousness returned.

Shaking my head, I looked up to see everyone gone from the stands, a few people unconscious on the grass around me, some of which I recognized as some of Vanessa's and Jason's goons. Who took them out? If they could restrain me, it would take some real muscle to beat... ALL OF THEM!? All of them were beaten unconscious! No way! And the sky... It's so dark. And I hear thunder but no lightning. What's going on? How long have I been unconscious and- wait... is this... blood? Oh god... It's real blood... I feel like I'm gonna puke... What's going on here!?

"**EHAHAHAH!"**

"STOP THIS, RIGHT NOW!"

What was going on? Who was yelling that crap? I looked around myself attempting to figure out where all the shouting was coming from, I saw a crowd standing some distance away, all of them either yelling something or screaming in terror as a collective whenever the thunder boomed. They were all looking up at the clouds, as if though they were watching something. Then I noticed that camera crews and ambulances were present, scooping up the unconscious into the vehicles as the reporters talking about some sort of fight. Something about Pantsman going up against the greatest threat the world has ever known. Yes, Leo told me about the hero. I did find it a little weird about the name and costume, but I can't necessarily blame the guy. After all, most of the good names are gone. But as I got closer to the crowd, a student, Ronald Blue, was being interviewed. I heard his voice as the reporter asked him to explain what happened earlier. Maybe I could find out what happened to Leo, since I couldn't find him anywhere…

"Well, it was nuts!" he cried out, "Van humiliated Leo like crazy! Made some horrible play in front of the whole school 'bout his parents getting killed. He snapped and fucking lost control and it was crazy! Leo's got powers like Pantsman too! Don't know how, but he does! He just screamed and his fur turned all black and he got red eyes and shit and he… just went all dark and stuff and attacked everyone who tormented him!"

The moment I heard Ronald say that... I looked up into the sky were this supposed fight was going on. I really couldn't see much due to the black clouds but the two figures in the sky suddenly came down onto the plains very close to the crowds of people. All of them gave a start and diverted their attention onto the two. But I was able to see who the two were. One was the city's protector, Pantsman, ragged, clothes torn and bruised. And the other... Oh my god... it was Leo, exactly as Ronald described him. He really had those incredible powers I've seen Pantsman display on television... he really did lose control of himself... and he was the one who attacked everyone after I lost consciousness... No... Why? This nightmare can't be happening...

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, LEO! STOP THIS MADNESS RIGHT NOW!" Pantsman shouted out.

"**I WILL BE THE END OF YOU!"** Leo screamed in malevolent joy, clearly enjoying what he was doing.

"LISTEN TO ME! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! STOP THIS!" He screamed, as though desperate to get through to Leo. Wait... his voice seemed so familiar...

"**I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, PANTSMAN!"**

Scott? Was... was that Mr. Ramsoomair I heard just now? It can't be... I'm so confused about everything right now... I didn't know what to do...

"Hey… pinkie… over here…"

Huh? Who called me?

"Over here… it's me. Dante."

What did he want? Doesn't he-Oh my God! His arm! It's soaked in blood!

"Don't worry about me right now." he said as he shambled toward me, holding his shoulder in pain, but otherwise not letting it bother him, "I pieced it all together. Your friend was born with a rare genetic material called M.E.T.A... It gives people all kinds of powers, it's rare, and it seems Leo had it within him, the same as Pantsman. His powers triggered due to the emotional stress that Vanessa caused, and his darker side has come forth as a result. He basically can't control himself right now. If we don't prove that, Leo's finished."

"Why!?" I cried out in confusion.

"Listen to me..." he said, motioning all around him, "If we can prove that all this was because he snapped purely under stress, it'll prove his innocence. If not, he's a threat to the whole planet with that kind of power, and everyone will be ordered to kill him on sight! Everyone on Earth will have orders to stop him! If Pantsman can't beat him, then we are all fucked, you got that!?"

That was his fate if he won? That was ours? No... I can't believe this...

"Listen to me..." he said, calming down a little, "The school's security system has cameras all over the place. If one is even remotely present at the bleachers, then we can clear his name. I need your help with this task…"

"Why?" I asked, eager to help, but wondering why he would even need it to begin with.

"Because..." he winced, evidently squeezing his shoulder too hard, "I'm losing a lot of blood. If I lose too much, I'll pass out. I need you to keep me conscious long enough to get the feed to prove Leo's innocence."

I was about to ask him to lead us to where he needed to go, but then another thought occurred to me, "Why do you want to help him? You don't even know him!"

"Because..." he said, looking a little pained, "I sat by once when something like this happened before. I won't allow it to happen again. Now let's go. We have to hurry before things escalate out here, and with the power coming off of Leo, it won't be long before he overpowers Pantsman."

"What!?" I screamed. Leo overpowering Pantsman? That... didn't even seem possible...

"His negative emotions are fueling his power and Pantsman is holding back on him, so that's why we have to hurry." he explained, taking a deep breath before continuing on, "I know why he snapped. After you lost consciousness when Van's gang attacked you, he immediately lost all restraints and control over his powers. He cares for you, far more than you know. And when you were hurt and he was powerless to stop it, that's when this hell was unleashed. You're the only one who can stop this madness… I'm sorry to have chosen you to help me, but it's urgent! I need the feed, and then you can go outside and find a way to stop him before the whole world is threatened by his power."

I honestly couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but Dante seemed to know a lot more about the situation than I did. He ran off, clutching his arm, to the gaping hole in the west wing of the school, no doubt caused by Leo. My god... all this devastation... all of this caused by the most tormented soul I've ever encountered in my life... This boy was far beyond Will. He was hurt, angry, and sad, harming himself and others around him. He had to be stopped, not only for our sake, but his as well. He doesn't deserve any of this at all.

I followed Dante within the school, looking around to see if I could find some form of security room. Hopefully it would be where the feeds of all the classes and areas were stored. This place is a little bit more uptight so there has to be one.

"Over here!"I heard Dante call out from an open room not too far from me. He must've found it before I did.

As I entered, I saw him, typing furiously on a laptop, probably his own, as it was connected to the monitor that stored all the camera feeds. I stood by and watched as he worked, and within a short time, he bypassed the school's security code, and was able to monitor any camera feed. He gave a small fist pump when he finally found what he was looking for: video feed at the stadium, which was coming from the commentator's box. Despite my excitement at this news, I noticed that he was starting to slow down at his work, a sure sign that he would pass out. Without any other plans, I slapped him hard upside the head, granting an, "OW! DAMMIT!" from himand soon he was back to his work.

"Got it… Everything that happened is stored right here.´ He showed me a tiny flash drive. "This will prove it, should Vanessa say and will say otherwise. Thanks… you should get back outside. It's getting worse out there… I can feel it. Find a way to stop him."

Dante looked about ready to pass out as he said that. "Let's get you out of here and to an ambulance.", I spoke, taking him by the shoulder and walking him out of the building, just in time too, since a deafening crash happened only right where we were just moments earlier. I was terrified, since we almost essentially got buried beneath that rubble as I saw Leo emerge from it, enraged beyond comprehension.

"**PANTSMAN!**"__He shouted, before taking off and going after his opponent. I was scared out of my mind. How the hell could I stop him if he can do everything I remotely can't!?

Inside Leo's Mindscape…

"UNCLE SCOTT! UNCLE SCOTT, PLEASE HELP ME!"

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

"Uncle Scott..."

I don't know what to say... I just saw my parents get murdered by that man. I have seen the saddest part of my life... and now I remember all of it.

My heart weighed so heavily. Now I know what Tenebrous is to me... he's my dark half, created from the years of suffering I went through after losing mom and dad to Jake Muldoon. No wonder I repressed him inside of me if he's this destructive. Somehow, I let my dark half loose, but I can't remember what happened that made me even think of doing something like that. I must've been pretty stupid to let him out, even though I'm far more intelligent that more other students there at school/ Grade wise, at least. I decided to press on. Hopefully, more of my memories were still out there, and I'm getting closer to the Colossus. I need to seal him before he does too much damage in the world outside my mind…

"_Hurry, Leo! Time is of the essence! There are some who are trying to withhold your dark side's advance, but they won't be able to hold out much longer!" _I heard Signa yelling at me to hurry. I could also hear someone grunting in pain. It must be the one outside my mind fighting my dark half. I have to hurry and regain control before it's too late…

I ran as quickly as I could, out from the large tunnel from the ground to see the humongous form of Tenebrous had gotten closer. Obviously the tunnel got me closer to my dark half, so now I could possibly run up to it, not get noticed, and end this nightmare. Quickly I decided against that when a powerful dark energy exploded nearby me, giving an aura of fear, hatred, and sadness. When the feeling subsided, I heard the creature say, "**Come on out... all I want to do is talk... Ah, who am I kidding!? I just want to kill you!**"

He then laughed a cold, but genuine and insane laugh before going back to searching for me. It was a laugh that chilled me to my core, and echoed in my mind for what seemed like hours. But I had to shake it off. I _needed_ to continue, to seal my darkness away.

Carefully, I climbed out of the tunnel, and ran to the neared form of cover, which appeared to be something archers would protect themselves with while firing arrows. Ducking behind the barricade, I suddenly saw more characters in the wall. It was me once again, this time with who appeared to be a white wolf girl... she was torturing me... along with a tiger... more memories came back. The wolf was Vanessa, the tiger Jason, and they made his life a living hell... this was something he could've gone without remembering. This train of thought was quickly interrupted by the giant stone and fur creature crying out, "**FOUND YOU!**", and firing more magic at me.

I deftly dodged out of the way, running toward the next barricade. This barricade seemed different from the last one. This one seemed... warm. Almost as though it were radiating happiness. Ducking behind this barricade, I was faced with another image... a beautiful girl... pink fur... wonderful smile... Aeris... her name is Aeris...I remembered everything about her. She was my best and only friend, she was kind, she was smart, and to me at least, she was pretty much amazing in every category... well, at least to me anyway. I reached out in an attempt to touch the image, but unfortunately, all I could feel beneath my fingers were the cold stones that made the barricade. I sighed. I at least knew now that I had something worth fighting for on the outside...

"**YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER!**" Tenebrous shouted out in glee, once more shooting a dark blast at me. I was distracted for a moment, but thankfully, the image of my friend was able to withstand the blast, as opposed to those before. Sighing in relief, I charge to the next barricade, the monster that I created looming ever closer. I was ready to charge at the creature once again, but then I was distracted by another image... a stage... a bed... people, all around it... Oh my God... this was the trigger. This was what happened. I... remember now... I unleashed this... THING into the world to protect my best friend...

As if to confirm this, Signus chimed in, "_Yes, it is true. You did all this to protect Aeris._"

I was silent before saying, "So it's really all my fault..."

"_No._", Signus said adamantly, "_This is all the work of Jake Muldoon, and Vanessa Richardson. He planted the seed, and she cultivated it. You were never meant to live through all this._"

I looked up at the giant, and into its eyes. He didn't try to blast me, probably because of my close proximity to it. It didn't want to hurt itself. Steeling myself, I said, "Alright... I created you... I'm going to bring you down." I then dashed toward the base, and started to climb.

Scott's POV

"**PANTSMAN!**"__ I heard my enraged godson yell, as he emerged from the rubble, murder shining in his eyes as he cried out, "**GO TO HELL!**"__before appearing in front of me and kicking me clean across the face. I was able to stay flying, but before I could get my balance, he started barraging me from all sides. How is he this tough? Thankfully, before he could get another blow in, I grabbed him, and chucked him straight to the floor, crashing into it, but he was able to flip to his feet quickly, only to have my fist meet his face. He rocketed off from the impact, at which point I chased after him, grabbed his face and slamming him into the dirt, dragging him through until we stopped. The moment we did, he gripped my wrist and threw me off of him and almost into a tree. Luckily, I stopped myself before I actually hit it. When I looked up, I saw him coming for me, and dodged his punch, which slammed into the tree and uprooted it on the spot. He snarled viciously when he faced me after missing that attack.

Watching him utilize his abilities like this saddened me... Yes, I knew about his 'gift'. I knew all about it. But I was hoping that he never was able to use it for his natural life, or should he use it, he would come to me about it, and I could tutor him about it... But seeing him now showed me just how damaged he was over the years. Awakening under such strife had caused this darker persona of my godson to surface, and he truly was everything my godson wasn't: Cruel, sadistic, megalomaniacal, destructive, and vengeful. And all because of a girl... a girl I was powerless to stop because of her cruel manipulative ways, and now she awakened the deliverer of suffering. All the more reasons for me to stop him before he makes everyone else feel his pain.

Charging at me, I grabbed his wrist as he punched and I dodged, and kneed him hard in his stomach, causing him to cry out while spittle flew from his mouth. I then kicked him upwards, warped to his side and kicked him again in the face into the tree that he uprooted, causing him to cry out as the tree finally gave way and collapsed. He just looked at me, his anger and dark energy flaring to new heights. "**Dammit… DAMMIT!**"__ He yelled out, clearly frustrated that he couldn't get an edge over me.

"**DAMN YOU!**"__Leo screamed while flaring his enhanced strength out of raw anger. Hatred burning behind his red eyes, he charged at me and punched me in the chest with new speed, and kicked me up into the black thunderous clouds. Regaining my balance, I grabbed his palm when he tried to attack again, flipped him around and kneed him in the back, grabbed his arm, and... Karen, Leo, forgive me... I dislocated his left arm out of its socket, before punching him in the face, flinging him a little ways from me. As he regaining his balance in midair, the clouds boomed loudly as a streak of lightning flashed. Leo was whimpering as he clenched his broken arm. I felt sick, realizing my actions against him, but it was for the best since I now essentially crippled his ability to fight now. "It's over, Leo. Don't try anything further." I voiced out, hoping that he would listen, and he would later forgive me…

He cried a little, whimpering as he grasped his broken arm, incapable of flexing any muscle within the dislocated arm. Before… his whimpers turned into creepy giggling, then soft chuckling, into full-blown laughter as he grabbed his arm and sickeningly popped it back into place. I was mortified… He still laughed insanely before he stopped suddenly and yelled, "**DID YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT WOULD STOP ME!? I'VE HAVE COUNTLESS BONES BROKEN SO THIS IS NOTHING! NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!**"

I was so shocked at his near instant recovery that he smashed me across the face before I even realized what was happening. Because of the impact, I was sent sailing quite fast, but Leo being even faster caught up and beat the absolute hell out of me... Ever seen one of those anime scenes where one person viciously beats on another person, without tire, without restraint, and certainly no defense from the recipient? Yeah... Imagine him beating me like that but him laughing like a maniac during his ballistic barrage. He then stopped with a gut punch, an uppercut, and then finally a ruthless slam across the face that sent me crashing from the clouds above straight into the earth below. Only the thought of 'I was too weak' crossed my mind as the descent speed increased until…

*CRASH*

The surrounding earth shook at the impact. The people screamed when they realized I was the one inside the crater. A bone chilling laugh came and only grew louder as my opponent finally touched down. More screams came as they ran from him. I was so battered and bruised; I think I lost nearly all my strength to fight him back. It'd be like a child fighting Muhammad Ali. But I had to. I had to find some way to beat him. So many thoughts crossed my head as I slowly crawled out of the muddy crater. At the same time, I kept hearing his taunts about me being an ineffective bitch-loving hero. Every nerve and every fiber of my being was on fire or aching from pain as I stood with what little strength I had left. He simply glared through me with those blood red eyes... Full of malice... Full of hate... Full of pain.

"**Are we having fun yet?**"__He asked, politely to my surprise. I guess he was being courteous. How condescending... I couldn't respond. My voice was too dry, and my strength waned. I won't be able to keep up much longer. I can't hold back against him anymore. No more mercy, because he's not gonna give any to everyone around him. With a new fire burning inside, I shot towards him, faster than before, getting ready to end this nightmare.

Aeris' POV

I came outside to witness the two going at it again, but it looked like Leo was having some trouble. I guess Pantsman stopped holding back against him. I saw him smash Leo upwards, shoot up into the sky, kick him down, and then blasted him while I heard Leo's pained screams. The dust settled and everything was quiet. I walked towards the freshly made crater and saw that Leo was beaten, knocked unconscious. When someone else confirmed it, the people erupted into cheers and congratulations for Pantsman. He stopped that poor hurt boy from causing any more damage, and while he was my friend, I was thankful that he was stopped before he did something very bad. I thought while everyone was celebrating Leo's defeat, that I could pick him up out of the crater, but when I turned to get him out, there was no body. I realized that Leo feigned defeat... and he was gunning straight for Pantsman!

"PANTSMAN! WATCH OUT!" I cried out, hoping he would hear me. Unfortunately, he was just out of earshot, but I know that he heard what Leo said...

"**DIE, HERO!**"

He appeared in front of him, then slammed his fist into the hero's stomach, then uppercut him skywards, following after him with a sphere of blackness forming in his hand. He then grabbed Pantsman by the face, and slammed him into the dirt headfirst, then shot the sphere. The result was earthshaking... and after that, Pantsman stopped moving, save a groan of pain. Leo kicked him just to see if he would move. He didn't. Then Leo broke into absolutely insane laughter, one that sent shivers down everyone's spines, including my own.

"**HAHAHAHAH! DID YOU HONESTLY THINK YOU COULD WIN!? YOU'RE A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HERO, YOU DUMBASS! YOU WON'T STOP ME FROM TAKING MY REVENGE!**"

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" said a voice that I kind of recognized. Only when I saw him did I know who it was.

I saw Jason getting up and bum rushing in a frenzied sprint. I guess he was going to try and stop Leo from harming Vanessa. Even I knew how futile attacking Leo would be. And again, he proved my point when Leo slammed his foot into Jason's stomach, stopping him in place. Truthfully, I didn't pity Jason. I've seen what he's done, so this is purely karma for him, and even more ironic when his number 1 punching bag strikes back with unbridled fury.

"**Feels good don't it?**" Leo said sardonically,"**Seriously, what goes on through that thick skull of yours!? I fucking beat Pantsman. What makes you think you can harm me!?**"

And with that, Leo kicked him away, slamming him into the collapsing wall that was once our history class, the severity of the blow, plus the impact, knocking him out on the spot.

"**And that just leaves you…**" he said, turning his back on Jason,"**The little white furred slut.**"

He pointed at Vanessa then began to walk over to her with a mad grin. It's like he was serious on killing her... no, he IS serious about killing her! Someone has to stop him before he does something unforgivable… and I guess that person is me. I got up from my spot and ran as fast as my legs would allow, as I was still feeling some pain from when Vanessa attacked me. As I walked I crossed the injured Pantsman... no, it WAS Mr. Ramsoomair. The mask fell off of his head due to what the last attack had done to him. I ran into the crater and said, "Mr. Ramsoomair! Are you okay!?"

He groaned a little, before opening his eyes and saying, "Hey... you're Aeris... that girl he likes..."

"Yeah.", I said, helping him up, "Come on, you need to get up and stop him!"

Pantsman was silent for a moment before sighing and saying, "I can't do this alone... he's too strong... and I can barely fight him in this state..."

He took a few shaky steps to the edge of the crater. Rushing to his side, I said, "I can help."

He looked over to me, thought a moment, and said, "...That actually might work... If you can distract him long enough, then I could probably attack him and get him to snap out of it. You go to him, and I'll get behind him."

And with that, he flew away, and left me alone. I prayed that it would be enough to just end the madness before it got worse. I then made my way towards Leo, who was laughing and screaming his hate as he approached Vanessa, who in turn was crying and screaming for help. But no one would help. After all, Leo DID defeat the protector of the city. Before I approached him, he spun around, another black orb in his palm, before he realized who it was. When he saw me, his features softened, and the black orb dissipated almost immediately. He even seemed to... not be so intimidating. Now I just had to calm him down.

Ironic that I would be doing this. Only a week I knew him and he already calms down upon seeing me. And why the hell am I doing this? Telling him I wasn't harmed and trying to calm him from his murderous rage. I should be running like hell, alongside everyone else, because he could kill anyone in a heartbeat if he so desired. And I'm certain that he would that poor- wait, person screaming for help. In truth, I saw this as karmic justice. Vanessa's made Leo's life hell ever since his parents were murdered and he definitely didn't deserve the horrible treatment he suffered, not after he dropped his façade to me and simply just showed he only needed a friend, something he didn't have for many years. So she shouldn't be screaming about her pain because that's nothing compared to the hell my tormented friend has lived. Despite how right he is for hurting her, he had to be stopped.

"I'm fine." I cried out, "You don't have to hurt her anymore! She gets it now!"

"**She won't get it till she's dead. Then she'll know my pain!**"

"Are you really planning on doing that?" I asked, getting a little desperate, "Or are you saying that because of what happened before you started hurting people? Look around you! Here's a lot of people you hurt lying around, even Pantsman too. And he didn't deserve what happened because he wanted to stop you from making a horrible choice. If you kill Vanessa, then you'll sink even lower than she ever will. And I know that wouldn't do that."

He paused for a moment, as though unsure of himself. Then, he said, "**She deserves to know pain.**"

"And she knows it.", I said to him, tears in my eyes, "Calm down and just stop doing all of this."

It seemed my words had some form of effect on him. The black fur turned back to gray and he basically reverted, save the eyes. They still shone red, and he still looked conflicted. I would fix that. As I stood in front of him, I saw the motion from Scott. With it, I cocked my fist back.

"Please forgive me for this..."

"**H**uh…?"

Pantsman appeared then and there at my side, and simultaneously we buried our fists into his gut, causing him to cry out in pain. He staggered back from the impact and looked at us. The red eyes then reverted to green. He then said, "Thank you both..."then collapsed, passed out into the mud.

It was finally over. I then heard the people screaming and cheering now that the threat that Pan- no, Mr. Ramsoomair dubbed 'Dark Leo' was quieted… for now. I didn't want to think about what would happen if he would come back. As the people were being loaded into ambulances, myself and Mr. Ramsoomair loaded into Leo into one of them, I wondered what could happen. Now that Leo has this strange power that makes himself Scott's equal, what would he do with them? I hope he doesn't go psychotic with it, and I pray that the upcoming days be brighter than this dark night.

Inside Leo's Mindscape

Finally, I made it. It took me forever to climb up the base of the monster, and even longer to climb up to its head. Finally reaching it, I grabbed tightly into the fur of the creature, raised Signa above my head, and stabbed it into the monster's forehead, eliciting bellowing roars of unrivaled agony. I finally did it! I got the rest of my memories back! During the midst of Dark Leo's screaming, he threw me off of his head, causing me to plummet to my doom. I thought for sure I was finished, but I realized that this was my mind, and everything goes in my head, so I landed gently on the floor, pleased with myself as Dark Leo kept screaming and trying to remove the tiny sword from his skull. But then he started shrinking rapidly, the massive stone features that he had as a Colossus fading from his body rapidly. He eventually reverted to my size, looking exactly like me except for disheveled fur and blood red eyes in place of my green ones. He looked at me, the sword still in his head, before his face contorted into that of absolute fury

"**YOU! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! I'LL KILL YOU!**"__He yelled then lunged at me, claws extended.

"**I HAD EVERYTHING!** **EVERYONE WAS GOING TO PAY AND YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!**" He screamed while trying to hit me, but it felt like every time he tried, I effortlessly dodged him. I didn't understand why, but it felt like second nature.

"**What the!?**" he cried out, looking at his paws,"**My powers! Where are my powers!?**"

"Guess you lost them!"I shouted at him before taking hold of Signa again, and pushing the sword deeper into his head until it was all the way in. Dark Leo looked at me in horror of what I've done until massive metal constructs burst from his head, surrounding and entombing him in some sort of machine. Before the machine (which I assumed to be Signa preparing to seal Dark Leo) could start working, my dark half paled, and then ran towards me, trying to get to me first. As he ran towards me, I saw some cables and wires emerging from the device, and then headed straight for him. The wires slammed into his back, pulling him towards it as he kept yelling and screaming and thrashing his way in a desperate attempt to escape the device as it kept pulling him in until he was pulled into its exact center. Then his body started to crystallize, starting with his bare feet, slowly climbing up his body…

"**NOT AGAIN! I WON'T BE IMPRISONED AGAIN!**" He screamed, and kept thrashing wildly. I could only stand and watch as more of his body was being crystallized. He looked at me, madness in his eyes. He then started to speak again, "**This… isn't the end… as long as HE lives, your hatred will never fade… and as long as that exists, I exist… and I will come back, and have control over this body again! I WILL COME BACK! DO YOU HEAR ME, COPY!?**"__

"Yeah... I hear you..." I said, trying not to show fear, "But I hope this'll be the last time I see you. Goodbye."

With one last despairing wail, the crystallization finished, entombing him alive inside of it, and the machine shut closed, removing him from my line of vision. He was gone, sealed once again into the darkest depths of my mind. I would see to it I don't see him again…

"_He is sealed once more… and your mind is restored to its former self." _I heard Signa speak through the machine that imprisoned my dark half. One last memory, a new one formed inside my head, showing Aeris outside, telling me to forgive her for what she was going to do, before Pantsman suddenly appeared at her side and the two gut punched me. My dark side's hold on my body was shattered at that, but the extensive injuries received were enough for that blow to be the finisher. I told them, "Thank you." before everything went black, leaving me unsure if my message was delivered to them.

I smiled inside... I had people who tried to stop me, not try to kill me for everything I've done. There were people in this world that cared for me... Maybe I'm not as alone as I once believed myself to be so long ago... Hey... What's this? Another memory?

I see myself as a three year old with mom and dad and... I fell off of the balcony from the top floor since I stuck my body through the bars to say hi to my mom. They screamed as I fell from there, neither of them close enough to catch me. Why couldn't I originally remember this? But... something crazy happened. My descent slowed until I harmlessly touched the floor. Both of them looked on in surprise at this display. But at a closer look, I never touched the floor at all. I was… hovering just a tiny bit above the ground. I was shocked. I could float?! What the hell was this!?

"_He's already displaying them… and so young as well._" my dad said, clearly surprised

"_Momma? Why didn't get hurt?_" I asked, looking up to her.

My mother picked me up and cradled me in her arms. My younger self sighed contently, obviously enjoying being smothered like that.

"_You're special, my sweet baby boy... So very special..._" she said, holding me closely.

"_Can you do that too?_" I asked.

She nodded in response to my younger self's question.

My younger self fell asleep as my mother rocked me in her arms but there was still more to this memory.

"_Only 3 years old… and showing them off already! Wait until Scott hears about this!_" my father said, pride in his voice.

Scott knows about this? Wait... does this mean... I have...

"_You felt it too, huh?_" my mother asked, looking over to him.

"_Yeah._", he said, walking over to us,_ "The moment he used it. He was phenomenal for a 3 year old._"

"_What do you think this means for him?_" she asked as they walked up the stairs and into my bedroom.

"_I don't know..._" he said, "_My guess is he'll be an incredible person when he gets older… Hopefully, Scott will tutor him in using his powers._"

"_I'm sure he will._" she said as she put me in my bed,"_And I'm sure that little Leo here will be a great young man..._"

The memory stopped there. I couldn't believe it... they knew that I had that gift. Scott knew too… and now I could see what my dark side was doing. I had powers like Pantsman, and my dark side was using them to inflict pain on people. This does kind of explain how I kept recovering from my injuries much faster and had a higher pain tolerance than most people I knew. This revelation made me smile a little. Now I had another reason to keep going due to this hidden memory. I'll master my hidden powers, and be the great person that my parents wanted me to be before their passing. Guess that's all I can do for now. I better get some sleep... even in my own head I'm exhausted after all of that climbing and running I had to do...

Lux: Crap… After ages, it's finished… Phew… No excuses but I'm not dead and I promise I WILL complete this. I won't let such good ideas rot in internet and development hell.

Matt: FINALLY! It's done! Enjoy everyone, we put our blood, sweat and tears into this!

Lux: So until next time, _"Ja'ne"!_


	6. Chapter 6, Part 1

It has been a month ever since the disastrous day that occurred in front of the high school. That day, where a young man, beset by so much rage, anger, and hatred, finally snapped and unleashed it all, alongside an incredible power that easily matched the defender of the city, and redefined the meaning of pain and suffering for a select few that very same day could never be truly forgotten.

Of course, everyone had their perspectives of the situation. Infuriated parents of the victims (thankfully, no one was killed) screamed that the boy was a monster and had to be dealt with to the fullest extent the law could provide. Others stated that they provoked him and forced him to awaken his hidden depths and deserved FAR more than what they received that day, considering the hell that all of them forced the boy to go through and how he purely took it in stride; snapping only when someone that he obviously cared about was hurt and he witnessed it firsthand. Either way, the arguments over the boy's fate didn't cease, that is, until someone showed security footage of the incident, and exposing the true colors of Vanessa Richardson in full.

Needless to say, those who witnessed the footage and seeing the true cruelty of Vanessa Richardson awakening the boy's suppressed darkness and bringing the madness full circle against her were extremely shocked. Some of the parents were in total disbelief that they had seen it. Others tried to cover their children's' sins by stating it was impossible for their children to do something so horrid to everyone in school and awaken a sleeping and very, _very_ angry demon. Others were so enraged at this, they decried it and called it blasphemy, even though they all saw the truth looking at them in the face. Few were proud, particularly those who stood up against Vanessa, Jason and the like, especially the parents of Aeris, said girl being the first out of anyone to actually defend Leo out of pure intentions and to alleviate the horrible trauma he was reliving then and there.

The other was Maximilian Riley, the proud grandfather of Dante Riley, who risked his health and life to not only protect the two as Vanessa accosted them with a switchblade, but took the blow meant for them in his shoulder AND hacked the school's security systems to retrieve the footage of Vanessa's attack on the campus while losing 2 pints of blood. Granted, no one outside of his grandfather (outside of Aeris and her parents) knew that it was Dante who hacked the security and pulled the footage onto his flash drive, anticipating Vanessa to delete the information the second she had the chance.

But in short, one way or another, the true evil was exposed and things quickly began to change in the small time frame that happened. A letter from the courts was sent to Scott Ramsoomair's residence, showing proof of Vanessa lying to them so nothing would stop her from driving Leo to suicide or finish him off herself if the necessity arose. Scott's clearance made news all over the country and immediately casted Vanessa in a bad light as the one responsible for framing him and for causing the disaster that awakened Dark Leo and the subsequent rampage that he brought.

Speaking of such, after the flames of truth died down, the media then spoke about him, wondering on how to deal with this new predicament. Some, still denying the involvement, demanded that he be locked up in prison for causing so much devastation and chaos, not to mention the cruelty behind his attacks against those who ruthlessly tormented him during the years of hell he endured. Others stated that it should be the perpetrators who should pay for their sins. Let them pay for everything that they directly unleashed. They forced Leo into awakening his hidden power, and considering the hell he went through, everyone should've realized the hatred and sadness buried within the boy before he snapped. But it was just too convenient for Vanessa. She had ostracized him from everyone so she and everyone she truly converted to her side would torment the poor boy; not just physical but emotional torment as well, which truly showed the maliciousness and sadism of the mayor's daughter in full and grand view to everyone who once believed she was such a sweet little girl, including her father himself.

All this talk came to an end however, when the answer of Leo's fate would come in the form of the battered hero, Pantsman. He offered to take the boy under his wing and help him learn to control the gifts he has so this never would happen again. Most actually agreed with this, the guardians of those who defended Leo making up some of this factor. It was a pretty solid idea. Have him control his abilities, probably help out around the community with his abilities. Hell, maybe he could join up with Pantsman in crime-fighting and the duo could probably finally bring in the doctor to feel justice for his crimes against the city. That would be beneficial towards everyone. To Pantsman, it was a sly move. He expected everyone to agree with his plans so he could fully train Leo, not as the defender of the city, but as the godfather he was supposed to be to his godson, as he had promised to the boy's parents before their untimely deaths.

But still, a rather vocal minority resisted the idea, stating that if Leo were trained, he could decimate the entire city on a whim if someone angered him even the slightest. Some even said that since he overpowered Pantsman just a month ago, and that was barely tapping into his abilities, they feared that if Leo got stronger, he could easily take over the town and the city's defender would be powerless to stop him.

Tired of the arguments, Pantsman presented the solution publicly, saying, "Why again did he suddenly tap into those vast powers he has? Was it because of Vanessa publicly humiliating him and making him relive the traumatic incident when he saw his parents were murdered? No. It was only, and might I add instantly, after this young woman here was knocked unconscious trying to defend him that he snapped. Who does Leo hold his allegiance to? His friend. Why did he finally snap? To protect her, no matter how misguided he was in his efforts. And who was it that stopped his rampage? She did."

That was the truth, plain and simple. These facts stopped even those who were heavily against the idea, because it did explain something. Leo wasn't a monster, as countless teenagers made them believe he was. Not even the rampage he caused was enough proof of him being a monster. In the end, it was settled. Once they recovered, Leo would be tutored constantly by Pantsman to master his innate power and forge his own destiny, as long as it was in the right path of course. But Scott had no doubts as to what his godson would do. What he did dread however, was revealing the secret of his identity to him. After this, he would have no choice in the matter but to reveal who he is to him, especially since when Leo was finally freed from his dark half's grip, he saw him before slumping into unconsciousness. The worry came from how Leo would exactly take the news. Scott honestly didn't know how Leo would react to this sudden development, or the fact that, instead of trying his damnedest to overturn Vanessa's court rulings to protect his godson, he instead became a popular vigilante and essentially left Leo, the boy he promised to care and nurture in the event that something happened to his parents, to be thrown in the lion's den. "Some godfather I am..." Scott thought to himself.

He felt like, even though he defeated Dark Leo, that he failed his godson. Failed in protecting him from the harshness and cruelty that the world had to offer. He mentally swore that when they met again, things would change, and by the end of the month of June, that day would finally come. Before then, those who defended him had already been patched up nicely and freed, except for Jason York, who suffered extensive injuries for trying to face Leo head on which was a rather foolish mistake on his part. Winding up with several broken bones, definitely caused by the scant few attacks that Dark Leo pulled on him, Jason would spend nearly all of summer healing from his wounds. This filled him with wrath towards the boy, as well as complete shock. It was impossible that someone so scrawny possess such incredible power, enough to make the strongest student in school look like nothing but a rag doll. Even while lying in his casts, Jason fumed and growled and roared out of anger at the impossible odds. It just couldn't be happening. Leo Orlando Leonardo the 3rd, son of a crack whore and lazy ass drug addict, couldn't be blessed with power capable of rending the earth beneath him apart just by punching the floor. It couldn't be true. Not to Jason York that is.

But to Vanessa, her injuries went far deeper than Jason's. To those who worked on her to help heal her badly damaged body, it was a miracle that Dark Leo didn't do anything that would permanently cripple her. To many, this showed that while Dark Leo truly wanted to end her life, the lighter side held enough control to prevent hurting her too badly, and only the timely intervention of Aeris allowed him to regain control over himself. She couldn't believe the things that had happened as she was laid up in her hospital bed. Not even her father would visit, not since someone exposed the truth of her actions that day, stating that 'he was too ashamed to see her'. Everything she had worked on, trying to crush that persistent fool and undo the dark prophecy that came true, nothing but a complete failure... it just wasn't possible. She was destined for greatness while that monster was destined for destruction, and she was to be the one who broke him, not the other way around. But one thing was certain. His destiny: the destruction that he caused, pain he inflicted, completely turning into the evil being hell-bent for world collapse; it was all true. And even though this strange invert of destiny occurred, Vanessa, wrapped in her cast and comforter, resolved mentally that _it would not end like this_. She refused to allow Leo's destiny of death and destruction come true. She refused to allow her destiny of ruling over all be changed by someone as inferior as Leo the 3rd. While he hadn't killed anyone when the demon inside him woke up, there was still the risk of that fate coming to pass, and now with everything inverted so that now everyone is now against her, there was only one person she could speak to who knew the answers on how to rectify this problem. The one who led her on her course of destiny. Only he could fix this and set the record straight on who is the real monster and who should be revered and adored by all... The very second she would leave, Vanessa had already decided to seek him out... and with his help, change the very nature of the world itself, with her on the very foundations being worshiped like the savior she was destined to be.

Dante 'Jeice' Riley looked up into the skies on the roof of his home. After being treated of his injuries and released 3 days prior to June 24th, he contemplated his actions that day. Normally, he wouldn't even give a damn about whatever the hell was going on in the world, preferring to keep his distance from events like that. But he was questioning himself. Why would he involve himself in that incident in the first place? Why would he throw himself in the way of a goddamn switchblade? That thing hurt like hell! And most importantly... why warn everyone, especially Leo's tormentors, of the hidden genome that was finally awakening, the supposedly extinct Micro-genetics Engineered towards Augmentation of host parameters, or the lost META genome? It was a rare find to even learn of someone who has it, let alone able to utilize this power. And for someone to actually push said person beyond the brink of self-control? Whatever they awoke, they deserved to be eaten by it. It's only karmic justice. But no, he still warned everyone about the situation that was about to happen. Even more, he assisted clearing the feline's name from all sorts of horrible slander and sealed the deal by not just showing Leo snapping purely under stress, but also by exposing the true Vanessa Richardson to the whole city, if not the globe. Everyone with a decent heart truly hated her, Dante included. But not even Dante himself expected to expose her like this. And the weird thing about it? He was more concerned with saving Leo's life and reputation more than exposing Vanessa to the world. That struck a few chords in his systems. Why was he so thoroughly reminded about Tucker, even though the two had absolutely nothing in common, including the scenarios they were in? Why, even when he was asked, and noted that he shouldn't even remotely care about the situation, did he respond that he left someone on the sidelines to suffer once before while he stood helpless? Nothing made sense...

"I guess since none of this makes sense, I should talk to the ones who can make sense out of all this." He thought out loud. When Leo would awaken after his coma, Dante resolved to speak with him and try to piece together why he did those things for him in the first place and how in the exact hell did Leo even come across those miraculous abilities in the first place. Answers had to be found, and deep down in his heart, Dante wanted to befriend someone... why not try to be his friend?

For Aeris. Her injuries weren't as bad as some had made them out to be. Sure, Vanessa held her down and started viciously punching the crap out of her, but it hasn't been the first time that Aeris been in some scrapes. Hell, she would've laughed it off after throwing her off and REALLY showed Vanessa how to throw a punch. That is, if she wasn't struck in the right spot and knocked unconscious near instantly, consequentially allowing Dark Leo to do that job for her in her stead, quite literally taking that measure up to eleven when it came to showing Vanessa how to really punch someone out. Aeris was quickly released after being taken in, her only true noteworthy injury being a minor concussion and very small cuts. Nothing that wouldn't eventually heal. But what came during this time-frame was her parents finding out about this and the visit they gave her in the hospital. At first, they were thrown out of the loop concerning what happened that day, but as they drilled her with questions, she explained everything. Leo requesting he go alone that day, the public humiliation that Leo suffered later on, her standing up for him, the massive brawl that ensued, her being rendered unconscious, the last thing she saw before that, and awakening to learn that the guy she defended had suddenly gone batshit insane for revenge and attacked everyone who made him suffer, not to mention how he promptly defeated Pantsman and was ready to kill Vanessa Richardson, until Aeris herself intervened and managed to restrain Leo from doing the deed long enough for her and Pantsman to render him unconscious.

At first, they were in total disbelief. A nice boy by many standards, as she had described him as, suddenly going crazy? The whole thing sounded ludicrous. So she had no choice but to explain why he did it, and the events that led up to Dark Leo's release, including the gruesome murders of the Leonardo's and the personal hell he endured during his childhood years. Samantha Cole nearly had tears upon hearing of Leo's tragic history. Vincent Cole was shocked and cried for him, repeating that it wasn't fair. Daniel looked livid at first, then completely disgusted. He explained that he was in service and while he did fight against men fighting for their lives at some points in his life, no man or woman should EVER relish in the torture they do to victims of their actions. It always has a habit of biting them on the ass in the end.

In short, Vanessa was a monster by category of the Cole's. Leo, on the other hand, was tormented soul who has gone through WAY too much hardship than any regular person could bear. But then again, after what she told them, Leo was FAR from regular. Vincent took that particular bit of info rather surprisingly, considering the fact that having those abilities are the fevered dreams of young boys everywhere. He seemed rather disheartened when learning how they were used. Daniel just looked on in silence before assuming a pose of quiet contemplation while he thought of things. Samantha wasn't anywhere shocked or surprised. Instead, she was more concerned for Leo's well-being. And speaking of well-being, the parents were about to go off in a rant and question why the hell Scott wasn't there overlooking his godson. Aeris sadly told them why, but not before telling Vincent to leave and go visit Leo (still sleeping at the time) since she knew Vincent would NEVER keep this information a secret. After he left and the parents made sure he was gone, Aeris told them who Pantsman truly was.

Upon learning of this, Daniel immediately flew into a rage. He was yelling on how unfair it was to Leo that his guardian would just go off and be some crackpot vigilante, not even remotely caring for his godson. However, Aeris countered that he was essentially banned from even getting close to Vanessa due to the now exposed as falsified rape charge placed on the comic artist. Daniel simply said that what Scott did was unforgivable, leaving poor Leo to suffer at the hands of the others and any sane man would fight against the law to save Leo from such a horrible fate. And as much as she wanted to present a counter argument, Aeris was speechless. And in time, things started to piece together to support Daniel's perspective. Because of this, she was angry at Scott too. He should've done countless things to defend Leo... But instead chose a different path. One that held consequences that only made a massive impact to everyone else today. How stupid could one be with his decisions? Samantha wanted to help him, plain and simple. But if there was anything both parents were, it was proud at their daughter. She had truly redeemed herself of her past by protecting Leo when he desperately needed it, consequences be damned. She really stepped up, and showed it in the traditional ass-kicking manner. And Aeris? She was happy that she did step up and defend him when no one else would.  
>This proved that she wouldn't stand by and allow any more of these horrible things to plague anyone who didn't deserve it. Now, the only thing she could do now was wait for the day that said boy would finally awaken.<p>

On June 24th, 201X, the boy would finally wake up.

Aeris was sitting at his bedside, while Scott (still garbed as his superhero persona) stood close to him. Doctors had informed her and the fully recuperated Pantsman that his brain activity was increasing dramatically, and that he would be awake any day now. So now here they were, awaiting the moment he would awaken. One question they both shared was if either Leo or his dark persona would emerge when he woke up. It was scary just thinking about it. After all, what would happen if Dark Leo was still in control after all of this time? Neither of them hoped that would happen, but now, they could only hope for the best as he began to stir in the hospital bed. His groans and moving him arms were clear signs that he was finally awake. Since his head was faced towards the wall away from them, they didn't know if he had opened his eyes, and if he did, which persona was in control. But he was up, that much was certain, as evidenced by his groaning.

"Leo?" Aeris said, rushing to his side.

Scott stood beside Aeris, and then added, "Wake up. It's us."

Leo was silent for a while, but eventually, he responded with, "You..."

The tone wasn't very pleasant, but Scott knew who it was directed to.

"How long did you know I was like you, Scott?" Leo asked, his back still turned to the two of them.

So Leo did clearly remember Scott at that moment. Scott's heart welled up. He knew Leo was very angry now. He knew that he needed to proceed with extreme caution. So, he started to speak, "... Le-"

He was interrupted however, when Leo shouted, "I SAID, HOW LONG DID YOU KNOW I HAD FUCKING SUPERPOWERS LIKE YOU, SCOTT RAMSOOMAIR! ANSWER ME! I KNOW MOM AND DAD TOLD YOU!"

"How did you remember?" Pantsman asked, flabbergasted.

"THAT'S NOT THE FUCKING QUESTION!" Leo yelled back, "ANSWER ME!"

Aeris was surprised. She didn't understand what was going on, but from the vagueness she could deduce, he was demanding answers to his abilities. Abilities Scott himself long knew the feline had. If this was the case, then Scott would have a lot of explaining to do in the first place. And Leo deserved answers. Especially after the hell that occurred.

Scott sighed. He anticipated this for a long time ever since his duel with Dark Leo. And so, he told him everything. About how he was born with his gifts, how his parents had them but never used them for selfish gain, hell, even use them at all... everything. Leo was silent as his godfather explained everything to him and remained that way afterward, never once turning his head. But he eventually spoke in a calm tone, saying, "... Can you come closer?"

Scott thought that Leo was ready to speak to him on a normal level. He hoped that his good side was still present as he drew close. When Leo turned his head to face him, Scott paled in horror. The red eyes were still there...

"YOU UNBELIEVABLE FUCK!", and before Scott could duly react, his godson shot up and slammed him across the face, sending him crashing into the wall behind them. Scott coughed in pain. He didn't expect that to happen, and the amount of wind Leo knocked out of him.

"ALL THE YEARS OF HELL I SUFFERED AND YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO HELP ME AT ALL, CHOOSING TO BE SOME GODDAMN HERO, AND YOU KNEW ALL THIS FUCKING TIME WHAT I WAS CAPABLE OF, NEVER TELLING ME HOW DANGEROUS I COULD BE AND WHAT I COULD DO TO PEOPLE IN A FUCKING HEARTBEAT! I'M YOUR GODDAMN GODSON, YOUR NEPHEW, AND THE ONE THING CLOSE TO FAMILY THAT YOU HAVE! AND INSTEAD OF DOING EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE THING YOU COULD DO, LIKE AN ORDINARY LOVING PARENT, YOU CHOOSE TO BE SOME IDIOT VIGILANTE AND LEAVE MY ASS TO THE WOLVES!" Leo screamed in rage.

Leo jumped out of the hospital bed and grabbed him by the neck, anger and rage still burning in his eyes, "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT MY POWERS!? WHY DID YOU KEEP ME IN THE DARK ABOUT THEM!? ABOUT MY MOTHER AND FATHER BOTH HAVING THEM!? WHY!?" He screamed, balling another fist and ready to strike once more.

Scott could only apologize, somewhat labored thanks to the earlier blow, "I'm sorry... I wanted to tell you, so much... I promised I would train you when you were capable of harnessing them innately instead out of spontaneous moments... then your parents were killed, and you broke down and became an emotional wreck. I thought I would start when you were six. You had every right to know then, until Vanessa managed to get that restraining order on me. I couldn't override it and when that happened, I realized that if I taught you even how to throw a single shot, you would more than likely take brutal revenge on everyone who had hurt you at that point in time, if not killed someone, especially Vanessa. I'm sorry... I really am..."

Right when the explanation came out, Leo had nearly punched him again. But then he began processing the information. Leo KNEW that Scott was very much correct in the situation. If he had learned earlier on about his powers in his life, more than likely he would've made a few people 'vanish', into the wind... Literally. As ashes.

Leo let go of Scott, absorbing the thoughts and words. And he realized... Scott wanted to train him, but the risks FAR outweighed the benefits at the time, and Vanessa's influence was just too strong to defeat. For an 18 year old, she had very strategically high genius, and only her pride led to her ultimate downfall.

Leo collapsed to his knees, allowing himself to process the information. Despite Scott seemingly abandoning him, he was right. If Scott intervened at any point in time, no doubt Leo would lose him too as his last caretaker, and he would really be alone in his life. And if that happened, no doubt he'd wind up in adoption agencies, which would later come underneath Vanessa's oppressive paws and make his life a miserable hellhole worse than his current life. It's not like Scott wanted to abandon him, it's just like he couldn't save him and had to watch Leo go through hardship and pain beyond the scope of countless others suffering in the world.

"I'm sorry, Uncle..." he whispered, fighting back the tears.

"No. I'm sorry to you, Leo...", Scott replied, before wrapping his arms around his nephew, "You NEVER deserved the hell you went through, and partially due to me, you did... If your parents were alive, they would be kicking my ass to hell for letting all of this happen... or allowing your dark side to do that for them."

"He's not coming back. Whatever you did out there, it helped me stop him in here..." Leo said as he pointed at his head.

_"What a relief..." _Scott thought. The last thing anyone needed was a Dark Leo event now.

"But Leo. I want to make up for my neglect..." Scott responded, "I want to train you. Teach you everything there is to know about your powers, as I promised your parents I would when you were ready. Can you allow me to amend my greatest failure and let me teach you?"

"... Sure... I could really appreciate it... Maybe when I'm done... I COULD TERRORIZE THE ENTIRE WORLD AND MAKE EVERYONE BOW AT MY FEET! THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE IN MY PRESENCE!" Leo yelled, and laughed maniacally, and the blood red eyes shimmered as he did... Needless to say, Scott and Aeris both blanched, before Leo stopped and started laughing as he pointed at the two of them, and began an entirely different laugh, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! FOOLED YA! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN BOTH OF YOUR FACES! PRICELESS!"

There was silence in the room, aside from Leo's laughing. But after a moment, a shout echoed throughout the room, "YOU IDIOT!"

Those words made him stop laughing for a moment, before a pink fist slammed into the roof of his skull, slamming him on the floor, and another shout from Aeris, saying, "DON'T EVER SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

"OWWW! Sheesh... even with my high endurance, you still hit people with cyborg strength..." Leo sighed, while grasping the comical bump that swelled on his skull. "You sure you don't have any powers like us?"

"No.", Aeris said, "In any case, are you okay? Your eyes... They're still red."

"Really?" Leo checked a mirror nearby and paled a little at seeing the normal emerald green now crimson red, but gave a sigh of relief when they shifted back to normal after a few seconds.

"Phew!" he said in relief, "I thought I was gonna be a red eyed monster! Glad I'm up. So, what did I miss?"

It was then they told him what happened during his month long slumber ever since the disaster now known as The Trigger Nightmare. How Vanessa was exposed for everything she did, and how someone went behind her back and revealed that she was a lying, manipulative schemer hell bent on tormenting Leo for reasons no one could understand, how the residents of Toronto learned the truth of the disaster, how some wanted Leo to pay for causing that incident, but how witnesses claimed it was Vanessa who started the nightmare and how she and her loyal goons be held responsible for the incident and pushed a boy way too far for everyone's own good, and Scott came to save his godson by stating he can train him to control himself and his powers for everyone's benefit. Seemed a little selfish on the civilian's part, but hell! It certainly would help, and even Leo himself had to agree! And now, everyone saw Leo in a brand new light, now that Vanessa's iron grip on things was finally, after many years, FUBAR. (Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.)

"The doctor's said you were free to go after you woke up.", Scott informed, "Your clothes are over there on the counter next to your bed."

"Oh. Thanks! 'Preciate it!" Leo said before heading for the counter and grabbing his stuff. As he turned around, he accidentally tripped on a cord connected to his bedside, lost his balance and fell down. Luckily, as he did, his paw caught on something, and it helped to cushion his fall.

"Oww... That sucked..." he said, recovering, "At least this soft pillow broke my fall..."

"Uh... Leo...? That's not a pillow..." Scott stated plainly while having a surprised look on his face.

"Hey, Aeris. Is the kid... awake...!?" Daniel Cole, her father asked as he walked in the room, only to see something no father would ever want to see.

His daughter, lying on the floor, hair strewn around, a BOY, screw the fact that it was Leo, lying on top of her, and his left paw ON HER BREASTS!

If there was anything Leo picked up on, it was the sudden drop in the temperature of the room, not to mention the two sources it came from. One was the girl he accidentally fell on, and his paw was groping her chest as he subconsciously thought it was a pillow. And the second made him pale, as he gazed into the angry and cold eyes of Daniel Cole... while Scott next to him shied away little by little, not wanting to get caught up in the ensuing slaughter-fest. _"You really did leave me to the wolves this time! On purpose!__"_ Leo screamed in his head.

Both the Coles looked at him with dead eyes, before simultaneously cracking their knuckles and saying in perfect unison, "Any famous last words?"

Leo was silent for a moment before standing up again and saying, "In the words of Jan Valentine from _Hellsing Ultimate_... Oh fuck me..."

Dante was just outside the door to Leo's designated room. This was his chance. Tell Leo he was the one who destroyed Vanessa's reputation as a saint and wonder if he could try to be friends. As he gripped the doorknob, it slammed wide open, with Dante on the other end getting slammed into the wall behind the door, leaving spider web cracks as Leo ran out screaming for his life while two bloodthirsty animals known as Daniel and Aeris Cole ran out after him, wanting badly to spill the offender's blood for doing what he had done. And powers be dammed, they were catching up to him!

"RUN AWAY!" Leo screamed, attempting to warn everyone in the Coles' path

"GET BACK HERE, YOU PERVERTED MOTHERFUCKER!" the red and pink cats shouted, still infuriated at what Leo had done.

As the door creaked, Dante came from behind it, battered to hell before he collapsed on the floor, leaving a human sized imprint in the wall he fell from.

"Oww..." He muttered almost comically before slipping into the anesthetic known as unconsciousness.

Scott came out, shaking his head in embarrassment and noticed Dante lying on the floor, and remembered that he was the one who exposed Vanessa with his impressive computer skills. And it was no mere coincidence that he was here now, that much he could tell. Picking up the unconscious youth, he carried him along. The future had much to show, and these two would help Leo in that path... Of that, Scott was sure of.

Later...

After Leo recovered from the brutal beating the two Coles dished out, him screaming apologies all the while, it was time they finally left and went home. Dante had awoken from his earlier incident and asked if he could talk with his two fellow classmates about something. Before Leo could answer, he felt something. Someone...

"Excuse me. I need to go handle something. I'll be right back." he said as he excused himself, and headed for the hospital's garden. Where only one person was there, sitting in a wheelchair holding daisies in her paws...

"Vanessa..."

Vanessa froze upon hearing someone speak her name like that, and not just someone, but the only one who owned that voice. And her heart sank when she turned around to face the man who nearly killed her a month ago.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be leaving now that your life is better?" she scowled at him. _Not like it will remain that way, you monster..._

"Yeah... But I came here to settle something first." Leo spoke... before the eyes once again shifted into the blood red rubies Vanessa saw a month ago, and even now it filled her with absolute terror and fear.

"**I don't care what you do to me from here on in, Vanessa. I know of my family and their lineage, I know who I am, and nothing you can say or do to me will ever break me or my soul ever again. But I swear on my parent's graves, if you ever decide to hurt anyone I care about, especially Aeris... I will kill you, make no mistake about it. And nothing short of the God of the man who created video games himself will stop me when that day comes. Until then, I will be your angel of humility, reminding you of your failures in making me suffer for your own amusement. And when the day comes that you don't take my promise seriously, I will become your angel of suffering.****"**Leo stated calmly to Vanessa, but meaning every word he uttered with complete venom behind it.

Calming down, the blood red jewels shifted back the emerald green as he looked at Vanessa one last time before walking off, allowing the words to sink into her heart.

2 months later...

"Excellent. You're making great progress on your skills, Leo!" Scott beamed as he blocked another punch from his godson, now his protégé.

Leo, after starting his training, learned very fast, and now learned how to innately call on his abilities by sheer will and how to harness his strength in no time flat. He still had a while to go before flight ever came to mind. When he asked why, Scott responded, "You must learn to walk before you learn to run."

It made sense. Master the basics first. So far, he had his endurance down, and thanks to years of torment, it was at astoundingly high levels, which explained how Leo was able to match Scott so easily when that day happened... and to think, he was still a teenager at that. Imagine the capabilities he would have as an adult. As Leo trained in a large white T-shirt and black gym shorts (to be able to move to his absolute fullest without restrictive clothing holding him back), Scott took pride in what he was doing and fulfilling his end of the promise. And even his friends were astounded as they watched from a distance, calling on his abilities with a mere thought, and destroying large training boulders with little effort, while still practicing his fighting with Scott.

By friends, Leo meant his long-standing friend, Aeris Bradford Cole and their new acquaintance, Dante Riley. To the shock of everyone there, Dante claimed he had known about that type of power ever since he was a child, but never went into much detail about how he knew. He also stated he could sense people who had it, which explained how he was the first one to know when Dark Leo emerged. As to why? He didn't know. It surprised him that he could still sense people, even though the last time he did was when he was a child. And sure, the man was silent and brooding sometimes, but he was good-natured and curious to see how far Leo could go, even helping out with simplistic exercises and small teachings that stretched far into his growing talents. Not to mention the fact that he was loyal. He seemed to be on a higher level of maturity that even Aeris was impressed with, and even with his insights to things impressed even Scott and Aeris' parents.

But that was then and this is now.

"Okay... Let's call it a break for today, okay? You've been pushing yourself hard for the entire session." Scott said, as he blocked another punch from him, sensing that he was too tired to go on any further.

"Oh fine..." Leo responded as he quickly calmed down, the red eyes shifting back to green.

No one understood why his eyes would light up crimson red whenever he called on his inner strength, but he promised that Dark Leo was sealed away safely, never to come out again. But deep down, there was a sense of dread... that one day he would return. Even now, Leo felt like he would see his evil side again... Sooner than he expected.

You see, when someone like those two start to rely on their powers, it increases their many parameters, and starts allowing access to powerful attacks and flight (if they are ready for it). When not using it, they are simply as weak as the average human. No special benefits are active, save Leo's freakishly high endurance and recovery, granted the former was more or less thanks to Vanessa which was something Leo begrudgingly admitted he appreciated.

"That was amazing to watch..." Dante admitted from his spot in a nearby tree watching them.

"Yeah... It's scary when those red eyes come back, though..." Aeris responded as she sat at its base, the memory of those eyes shining in delight of the pain he caused still in the forefront of her brain.

"Don't worry. It's definitely Fuzzball behind the wheel in that fucked-up head of his." he chuckled, "Granted, I do kind of feel bad for him though..."

"Why?" Aeris said, looking up at Dante.

"Look up 'Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex' and you'll see what I mean..." he said, smirking.

Aeris didn't need to look it up however, and was able to infer as to what Dante was getting at, and said, "Okay, eww."

Dante laughed a little and said, "What? Sure he can use 'em whenever he wants at a mere thought, but still. What would happen if he accidentally called on 'em when... well, ya know. Seriously, it's like the only chick he can get with is someone like him, and Mr. Ramsoomair confirmed that the last woman like him died out nearly 20 years ago..."

"I know... It was Leo's mother." Aeris said sadly.

Even though he finally came to grips with his parent's deaths, Leo still missed them horribly, and speaking about them was a touchy subject whenever he was around or nearby.

"As things stand... those two are the last of them..." Dante sighed, "It's... almost ridiculously tragic..."

"Almost?" Aeris asked, curious about his wording.

"It's tragic on countless scales, considering the things those two have dealt with." the young man explained, "The loss of close friends and loving family, and that bitch nearly ruining what little bonds they could salvage over the years. But in the end, they're still here. Finally enjoying each other's company to the fullest while the former loner has a few people he can remotely trust. You and me, I mean..."

"That's true..." Aeris said, looking about over to Leo, who was walking over to them.

"Well, my day's done. You guys feeling hungry? I know this awesome Italian joint that's finally back in business, thanks to Dante here exposing Van for what she really is." Leo said when he got up to them.

It was no secret that even before then, many places stopped serving Leo altogether, more or less because of Vanessa using her status and position to destroy the reputation of those establishments that DARED to serve her hated enemy. But, with her exposed in being a ruthless brat trying to drive a poor kid to suicide, her power and status was now forever lost. And now, Leo could live a (somewhat) normal life. And because of that, his favorite restaurant was finally open after 5 years of closing down, and the owners (who he knew very well) were able to restart their business after proving their case after a month of Vanessa's exposure that they were framed. Now it was back in business, and Leo felt like treating his new friends to dinner.

At that, the two got up, well, Dante jumped down, and walked to him, and said, "Sounds nice."

"Sure." Aeris agreed, but mostly because she could never say no to Italian.

"That's great." Leo said with a smile, "We better get moving before it gets late. They should be opening any moment now, and the owners personally extended an invitation to me."

Dante lifted an eyebrow. "Wow, popular already? When did you get an invite to this place?" he asked.

Leo shrugged as he started walking off to his house. "8 years ago." he casually replied, while both of them simply looked at him, flabbergasted. "I'll explain when we get there."

Later on that day...

The group casually walked downtown, each of them discussing topics of their own interest. For Leo, it would be how school would start out after break and their status now. Dante countered, stating while things will be better, it won't be by much, since Vanessa had quite a few people under her leadership, regardless of how she manipulated people. Leo himself agreed to this, knowing ALL of the true lost causes when it came to her in the first place, since they, aside her of course, gave him the most vicious beatings in the past. And even then, she had a large clique of friends and allies in the first place, but her foothold has been lost, which will eventually have people leaving her side and seek redemption or just stay away from the two altogether. But things seemed to veer more to the former than the latter. After all, several people left many cards for the guy during his month long coma.

For Aeris, it was simple topics. Their likes, dislikes, etc. Better way to know the two better. Dante replied first.

"Was a loner, preferred being alone, have a messed up history, like watching Comedy Central, I think black comedy is hilarious in some cases, favorite food is Denny's Bacon Slamburger, drink is Watermelon flavored Kool-Aid, I despise sexists, racists, and homo-bashers, and the concept of a predetermined fate. There is no fate but what we make. Lastly, my IQ is 175, but I'm a slacker on so many levels and my favorite video game genre is shooter/horror. So I'm at home with games like Dead Space and recent Resident Evil games, but I'm also good at strategy and RPGs and definitely Hack and Slash, like Devil May Cry, Dynasty Warriors and Asura's Wrath, granted that was a beat-em up."

"That was... quick and to the point..." Aeris remarked, surprised with his ability for the laconic.

Leo went next.

"You both know my past, I just wanted to have friends and glad I do after God knows how long. As for my likes... Video games and making my parents proud as they watch over me, and reading when is get REALLY BORED."

"Religious much?" Dante sniped.

"Ignoring the peanut gallery..." Leo said before continuing, "Favorite food is Italian, drink is... Cherry flavored soda, I guess. I dunno, I'm just going off the top of my head here. Despite me being good in school, it's SOOOOOOO BORING, that I would rather shoot myself in the head than listen to some boring ass lectures, like how Deadpool did in his game. That was funny... I like all kinds of games, so long as they don't suck, but fighting types is my specialty though." He finished.

"Alright... I guess it's my turn, then." Aeris began.

Dante then interrupted. "Aren't you the girl who was nearly raped in an Ottawa high school locker room by the team's ex-quarterback?"

Aeris was shocked, and looked at Dante with an expression of astonishment, saying, "How did you..."

"Your face was familiar somewhere." Dante explained, "Cross-referenced your name and found you on the Ottawa news. Not to mention, remember who curb-stomped them after the guy was arrested..."

"Oh yeah! I remember!" Leo said, "Our school beat them because they lost their star quarterback because of attempted rape charges! Man, that was brutal... I remember how the school celebrated. With a piñata..."

"A piñata?" Aeris asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I was the piñata..." he said, looking down.

"Oh..." Aeris responded, wishing that she didn't ask. She then took a deep breath, and said, "Okay... I'll say it again, I'm-"

"LEO, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" came a shout from behind them, cutting Aeris off.

The three stopped on the spot and tensed. Only one person could make such a racket and curse at him... Jason York. Said tiger was walking towards the group, a large group of his personal gang at his sides and behind him. The short version? He was here for blood and vengeance... and he was going to collect in full from the three of them right now.

However, despite the situation, Leo smiled in a playful way and said, "Hey there, Jason. Here to kick my ass? Good to see that nothing's changed between us."

"Can it, you fucking freak of nature!" Jason called back, "You're fucking dead, and I'm going to be the one that kills you! You, your whore, and that other fucker that you call a friend!"

Suddenly, Leo looked much more serious. His eyes went from green to red in a near instant, and he said, "You know, I was going to let you walk away with a warning. But insulting my friends? That's just something that I won't stand for in the slightest."

"Oh, what? You going to go evil on us again?" Jason scoffed, "Go ahead and do it. Show the world what a freak you really are. That'll win you popularity points."

Leo looked at Jason dead in the eyes, and said, "I'm not going to let him out... but I'm still going to kick your ass."

The entire group had a laugh at that, and Jason then said, "Oh sure, the wimpy whiner is going to kick my ass. You sure you want to do that? After all, it would be a shame to see you blow up an entire city block."

"I'm not going to." Leo said, "But I'm still going to kick your ass."

Jason chuckled, "Okay, now it's just getting sad. Tell you what I'll humor you. I'll give you first go. Come on, don't be shy. I'm a man of my word."

Leo sighed and said, "Okay. But I can't be held responsible for what happens next."

The gray cat then strolled up to the tiger before punching him square in the jaw. Not strong enough to shatter the bone, but just enough to dislodge it, and send him flying into a nearby alleyway. The others just stared at Leo as their leader climbed out of a garbage can. The cat then turned to them before smiling, and saying, "So... anyone else want a go at me?"

And quicker than you can say 'Fuck no!' the entire group had run away, save for Jason. He was growling at Leo as he walked past. He then, in a swift motion, realigned his jaw before saying, "Don't think I can't see through you, freak. When you hit me, I saw your eyes... red. Everyone says your some fucking big time hero, or you didn't deserve it or whatever. But let me tell you something. I expose you, and everyone will know just how much of an evil prick you are."

Dante rolled his eyes and said, "Seriously Jason, do you ever just... you know, shut up? It'll make people like you better. Then again, nobody likes you, so... yeah."

Jason looked about ready to wring Dante's neck, and in fact, he did. He didn't get far though. As soon as his paws were around his neck, Leo snapped into action. He punched the tiger in the face once more, sending him into the same alley, but this time, knocking him senseless. Leo sighed and said, "God that was annoying..." before turning back to his friends and saying, "So, you guys still up for some Italian?"

The two cheerfully nodded and said yes, once more making their way down the street and toward their destination.


End file.
